Ghoulish Hunteress
by Forgotten-Fool
Summary: Ruby Rose is an innocent and naive girl who just wants to help. This makes her easily manipulated. At least until the manipulation almost takes her life. Watch as she reacts to her new condition with horrific side effects.
1. Prologue

Ghouls are a small portion of the world of Remnant's population. 75% of the world is human, 20% of the world are Faunus, and a mere 5% of the world are Ghouls, allegedly.

Ghouls look exactly like humans or Faunus and they are being actively hunted by the government, so they MUST hide. They can reveal themselves in the White Fang, but most don't. Most just live their lives as if they were human but once every 2-3 months...

 _ **THEY FEED.**_

What will happen to an innocent girl in this world Well...

 ** _LET'S FIND OUT!_**


	2. Chapter One: Approach and Retreat

**(Follows the plot of both RWBY and Tokyo Ghoul. Takes place after season 2 of RWBY and before season 3 of RWBY)**

 ** __LINE__**

Ruby Rose is a normal girl with normal, innocent thoughts... at least, that's what people think. While she does have normal thoughts, they do, occasionally, turn...

 _Sexual._

This happens most often with this girl she's rarely talked to. Her name?

 _ **Rize Kamishirio**_

One day, she found herself staring towards the girl in the Beacon Cafeteria once again just thinking.

" _She's beautiful... the way her lips glisten like fresh strawberries... her legs... I can just imagine them wrapping around my body as I-_ " Ruby thought before getting called out of her thoughts by her sister, Yang.

"Hey, Ruby!" Yang said before looking towards where Ruby was looking as Ruby looked to Yang.

"Huh?" Ruby asked, snapping out of her daze.

"So, ya into her, right? Didn't know you swung that way." Yang jokingly teased. Ruby, becoming flustered, grew red like roses and her attempt at saying "It's not like that!" But it only ended up as simple blubbering. All this did was make Yang laugh a bit. "Is you're into her, talk to her. Ask her out!" Yang said, lightly pushing Ruby with her fist. Ruby looked down, embarrassed.

"What if she says no..?" Was all Ruby said in response. Yang simply smiled and put her hand on Ruby's shoulder and said "But what if she says yes!?" Ruby sighed and smiled.

"Okay..." She said, standing up and walking towards Rize, the girl of Ruby's dreams. Dreams that were sexual in nature. She arrived and Rize's purple eyes met her silver ones and her heart skipped a beat.

"Oh..?" Said Rize. Her voice was soft and kind. It drove Ruby nuts.

"I-I-I... I was, Uh, y'know... wondering if m-maybe y-y-you'd like to p-possibly go on a d-date with me..." Ruby asked nervously. Rize smiled and responded with something Ruby was not prepared for.

"I would love to."

Ruby froze at those words, only for a second but it was visible. They planned out where to go for the date and when, and thankfully talked about how they should dress (casual clothing) and as Ruby was about to leave this situation that had her heart beating 30 miles a minute, Rize stopped her by putting her hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby turned to Rize to see her lean in. Her face went next to hers.

"Don't keep a girl waiting." Rize said, her voice making Ruby have to suppress the moan rising out of her. Rize, could tell this was happening and simply smiled before leaving. This left Ruby standing in the cafeteria, alone and flustered. After a few seconds, Ruby returned to her table, which now also seated Weiss and Blake as well as team JNPR.

"So, how'd it go!?" Yang asked excitedly. This confused the rest of the table.

"How'd what go?" Weiss asked, prompting Yang to quickly shush her, wanting to hear Ruby's response.

"She..." Ruby started eyes widened to the ground. Yang's face softened a bit before she saw Ruby look up with an astonished smile. "She said yes..." Ruby said. The blondes eyes went wide and she smiled in relief.

"OOOH! RUBY'S GOT A DAAAA~TE! RUBY'S GOT A DAAAA~TE!" Yang sung as she hugged Ruby. Weiss's eyes widened, along with team JNPR, while Blake simply raised a brow.

"With who?!" Weiss asked, excited. Ruby looked to her with a smile that was growing.

"Rize Kamishirio." Ruby said.

"I've heard of her, she's a good fighter." Lie Ren said.

"And hot!" Yelled Nora.

"Nora!" Yelled everyone at the table.

~~Line~~

It's time. The date is in an hour and a half and Ruby is **TERRIFIED**. She shouldn't be going on a date with Rize! Rize's WAY out of her league! She should just cance-

 **SLAP***

Yang had slapped her sister hard. Ruby brought her hand to her face and rubbed the area of impact.

"Don't leave her waiting! Get dressed and go to your date!" She said.

"But... she's way out of my league..." Ruby mumbled. Yang was visibly pissed at that.

"NO, SHES NOT, YOU NEED TO GO TO THAT DATE NOW!" Yang said, pressuring her into the date.

"Yeah... Yeah.." Ruby said before leaving with a some clothes and entering later wearing the other clothes.

It was a dress shirt with a thin black tie, jeans that Yang gave her, and a dark red hoodie. Ruby placed her other clothes on her bed and promptly slowly spun around, so her team can get a good look at her and tell her is she looks good.

"Looking good little sis!" Yang said. "Good thing you took those jeans."

"They were a little tight..." Ruby said, embarrassed.

"We can tell. Your butt is practically popping." Blake joked with a sly smile

"WHAAT!?" Ruby said, scared and trying look at her butt.

"Don't worry, it's a compliment." Yang said before turning to Weiss who was studying. She turned to look at Ruby.

"Pretty good."

~~~Line~~~

Ruby arrived at the place they were supposed to meet half an hour early. 15 minutes later, Rize herded showed up. She wore her usual white dress with blue sleeves. Either way, Ruby can't help but find it attractive.

"I thought we were doing casual?" Rize teased.

"N-No! It's just that, someone spilled stuff on my regular clothes so I just went with... this!" Ruby defended, while very flustered and growing red. Rize giggled adorably.

"I'm kidding, you look fantastic. Absolutely scrumptious." Rize said with a smile. Ruby grew red and smiled in response. "Come on, let's go." Rize said before taking Ruby's hand and walking off with it, dragging Ruby along with it.

It's about 1:30 AM and Ruby is walking Rize back to her dorm. They still have yet to make it onto Beacon campus grounds. It'll take an hour to get there.

"Come on, let's go this way!" Rize said, pulling Ruby along through an alley.

"This isn't the way to Beacon!" Ruby objected but followed willingly.

"It's a shortcut! And I want to talk to you about something." Rize said, stopping in the middle of the alley and turning to face Ruby. Ruby was slightly shorter than Rize, but not enough to make Rize inadvertently look down to Ruby. "I'm glad we leave near each other... in the dorms... otherwise, with the ghouls that have been attacking recently..." Rize looked down to her feet. "I-I'd be terrified..." Ruby awkwardly smiled at Rize.

"Of course. The thought is terrifying to me too, but with you, I feel more... happy. Like I'd fight the world for you..." Ruby said with a smile. Rize brought herself closer to Ruby, their lips getting close to touching.

"I had my eye on you too... don't think I didn't see you staring at me across the cafeteria." Rize said with a sly smile. "And I think you know..." Rize pauses moving her face to Ruby's ear. "I want you as much as you want me..." Rize finished, her warm breath against Ruby's ear making her shudder. Rize started kissing Ruby's neck, unbuttoning and taking of the tie to reveal Ruby's left shoulder. By the time the shoulder was revealed, Ruby was actively moaning. The kisses were pure pleasure. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure, plea-

 **PAIN.**

Pain was all she felt her eyes moved towards her left to see Rize's face. Her eyes' irises were red what used to be the whites of her eyes were black. The nerves around her eyes were visibly dark red. Her mouth... it was covered in Ruby's blood.

Ruby pushed off away from Rize, wide eyed. She reached for Crescent Rose only to find air. She didn't bring it. Why would she bring it, it was a date!

Ruby started running towards the opening of the alley.

"OH, I JUST LOVE WHEN THEY TRY TO RUN! But I should make this quick..." Rize said, pouting at the end. That's when Ruby felt it. Rize's kagune ripping through her gut. Blood shot out of her mouth onto the ground and her shirt. The Kagune tossed her to the side into an abandoned construction site. "TIME FOR SOME FUN!" Rize shouted, following. Ruby's breath was labored and desperate. "OH YOU'RE GONNA GIVE UP NOW! HA! How pathetic! Well, time to-" Rize started before hearing steel clattering together. She looked up.

"Oh fu-" Rize started before the about 30 steel beams fell on top of Ghoul.


	3. Chapter 2: Realization

Darkness.

That was all Ruby saw.

"Wh-Where am I..?" Ruby asked out loud. She felt naked but she was... fine with it. What's nudity when you're floating through the void?

" _She's losing too much blood! We have to operate now!_ "

"Who's there..?" Ruby asked, addressing the disembodied voice.

" _We have to use the others organs!_ "

" _What about their next of kin!?_ "

"Organs... Next of Kin..?" Ruby wondered.

" _I'll deal with the consequences but we must save this girls life!_ "

"What's going on..?" Ruby asked. Everything was fuzzy, her speech was slurred. She felt another persons body push up against hers.

"We'll always be together now..." Said the person pushing herself onto Ruby's back. Ruby recognized the voice.

It was Rize.

Ruby had awoken from her sleep after her surgery and was given a small, regular hospital meal. It was disgusting though and after a single bite being forcefully ejected from her mouth via vomit, she decided that she wasn't hungry and didn't need another bite.

Half an hour after she bit into the lunch, a nurse came in.

"You've barely eaten your food." Noted the nurse.

"I'm... not hungry." Said Ruby. The nurse simply smiled and nodded before taking the tray of food and leaving.

~~LINE~~

2 days later.

After Ruby was discharged, she headed straight to her dorms. She got there and opened the door to find nobody. ' _Right... classes._ ' Ruby thought before going to her bed. Next to her bed was a bag full of food with a not on it that read 'Hey sis! Don't know when you're getting released so I put this here so you can eat something if you arrive when we aren't there! Love, Yang~' She just laid there in silence, ignoring the plentiful bounty next to it. How long it was until the rest of team RWBY arrived to their dorm, she doesn't know. It felt like days of motionless waiting but no. The way she was laying made her able to see the door but she wasn't facing it.

The door opened to reveal Weiss, Blake, and Yang. When Weiss and Blake saw Ruby, they looked shocked, while Yang lit up

"Ruby!" Yang said, jumping onto her sister, bringing the younger in a hug. "I'm so happy you're alright! OH! We have to go out and work on something for school, how about we check out a weapons shop while we're there?" Yang said, trying to cheer up the unresponsive girl. Ruby was just silent.

"I... I'm a little tired... no thanks." Ruby lied, lightly pushing away from the hug. This shocked Yang. Usually, she loved hugs and would squeal at the mere thought of a weapons shop. Yang came to the conclusion that Ruby was, uncharacteristically, REALLY TIRED.

"Oh... okay, we'll go do that project.. see ya.." Yang said, the entire team (minus Ruby) putting their backpacks onto their beds and leaving. Once they were gone, Ruby laid down once more.

Half an hour has passed.

Ruby eventually got bored and turned on a tv. Some boring interview. Better than nothing. It quickly turned into plain old white noise to her. Something about the air was just weird.

"Why can't Ghouls eat human food?" Asked the interviewer. Ruby's eyebrow rose as she turned to the screen.

"Simply put, they cannot. Their bodies won't allow them to. Our food simply tastes disgusting to them." The interviewee said. Ruby's eyes went wide. She just barely registered the next question. That sentence rung in her brain multiple times.

"Disgusting to them."

 _"Disgusting to them."_

 ** _"Disgusting to them."_**

"Why is it so hard to kill Ghouls? Other than their eating habits, they're the same as humans, right?" Asked the person doing an interview. The interviewee shook his head. That's not a good sign.

"Not exactly. Ghouls cannot be killed by normal weapons such as kitchen knives. If you don't use a special metal found in both Ghouls and nature, your attacks will be useless." Said the interviewee. Ruby froze for a second before she slowly turned off the tv. She stayed quiet for a second before swiftly clambering for the bag and forcefully snatching out a hamburger from her favorite fast food place and ripping off the wrapper. She held it in front of her mouth for a second. She was terrified. What if the surgery made her a Ghoul? She opened her mouth to take a bite. She smashed her teeth into the burger.

It tasted disgusting.

 ** __Line__**

Half an hour has passed since she bit into the burger. The room is littered with foods and drinks. Ruby is near Weiss's bed, looking through the frost queen's bag for her thing of cooking knives. She found it and grabbed two quickly. One was a large knife, whose blade was about the size of her hand from the tip of her middle finger to her wrist. The other was a small easily concealable knife. She didn't mean to grab it and instead of returning it to the collection of knives, she put it in the pockets of one of her dark hoodies. She raised her shirt to reveal her stomach. She raised the large knife into the air into the air and held it there for a second. "If this does nothing. Then I'm... a-a Ghoul..." She swallowed, trying to bring down her fear. She didn't succeed. If she's not a Ghoul then...

She swiftly brought the knife down into her stomach.

The clatter of the blade of the broken knife hitting the ground broke her heart. She froze, struggling to keep her tears from flowing out. Eventually, she knelt down and picked up the blade before putting the blade and hilt under her bed. Her scroll dinged with a text message. It was Yang.

"Coming into the dorms now. Got you cookies!" was the text. It was followed by three coolie emojis. Ruby started bawling. Loudly. It wasn't because of the text though. It was because of the background of her scroll that sheltered the notification. It was a picture of Ruby and Rize on their first date. They were happy. After a few seconds, the rest of team RWBY and Team JNPR came in to see Ruby bawling on her knees in a mess with food everywhere, and in front of her, her phone alit with the notification and a picture of Ruby and her dead crush, Rize. Ruby got quieter when the others came in. She quickly got up and ran past them, grabbing a dark hoodie and leaving behind an empty room. Yang saw the phone. "I-I'm so sorry..." She mumbled, low enough to be just barely heard.


	4. Chapter 3: Anteiku

Ruby put the hoodie on to hide others from her tears. It was a dark grey, easily pushing away any eyes that went towards her due to the very inconspicuous nature of it. She ran towards the subways. They always seemed to help her when she was sad. Though, who knows, she hasn't gone since Roman Torchwick and the white fang used an unused subway tunnel to send Grimm into the city. Ruby silently cried and boarded the subway. She got on and sat in one of the seats, hunched over with her elbows on her knees and her hands cradling her temple.

Eventually, after a few stops of the train, she stopped crying. Took about half an hour to do so, but it was done that's when she realized it. Her mouth was watering due to the smell.

The smell of people around her.

The smells of human flesh. Man flesh. Woman flesh. Child flesh. Flesh, Meat, Eat, to the bone! MAN MEAT! WOMAN MEAT WOMAN FLESH MAN FLESH! EATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEAT _EATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEAT **EATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEATEA-**_

Ruby's eyes widened at her thoughts. She couldn't believe it. She wanted to... No, it's not that she wants...

She has too.

That's when she realized about the knife in her pocket. The small knife she put in here. Why did she put it in here? Did she subconsciously know she would need it? She looked in the reflection of the window across from Ruby saw the boy next to her, about a year or two older than her, was looking at her concerned. Her first victim. She still had enough tears in storage. A few dripped down her cheek and traced along her nose. She whimpered.

"Hey..." the boy said. "Are you okay?" He continued. Perfect, thanks for asking.

"I-I'm fi... No... I'm not..." Ruby said, forcing a few more tears from her eyes.

"Do you need a hug?" He asked. Perfect. Nobody else was in their train car, they were alone. Easy.

Ruby nodded, silently grabbing the knife in her hoodie pocket. The boy silently wrapped his arms around her. He quietly shushed and rubbed her back. Ruby's grip on the small knife tightened, eyes against the unknown boy's shoulder. She had to do this. She had to. She had to... she had to...

She had to...

She couldn't.

She let go of the knife in her pocket.

She broke again and started weeping openly into the boy's shoulder. She hugged back. She couldn't kill this boy who was only doing what was right. She doubted she could even kill someone trying to kill someone else. She just didn't have it in her.

"It's okay. You're fine. Everything's okay." The boy said between shushes. It stayed like that for about half an hour. Ruby finished crying and quietly pulled away from the boy.

"I-I have somewhere to be." Ruby said.

"Don't we all?" The boy said. "We're all just taking detours to the same destination." He muttered solemnly. "I... Thank you... You caused me to see that the travel and the detours are what counts. Not the destination."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked. The boy gave a small chuckle.

"Nothing. It's just a little wisdom I found." He said before standing up and walking to the opening train doors.

She never saw that boy again.

 **~~LINE~~**

Ruby was walking home, back to Beacon. She had missed the stop that was closest to the school. She walked and walked. That is, until she came across this quaint little coffee shop.

"Anteiku..."

She recognized it.

Rize would always have a cup o' joe from here at school. She was staring in the window. Past the "Sorry, We're closed" sign Ruby could see her face. For the entire walk since the train, Ruby kept her head down, never looking into someone else's eyes. That was good because now, one of her eyes were silver, like normal. The other was like Rize's. Black and Red. Her hand slowly rose to the skin slightly under her eye, her finger tips just barely registering against it. She then looked past the shop window, inside the quaint little coffee shop. Inside stood a waiter with a light punk rock vibe, looking directly into Ruby's eyes. The waiter was not afraid, however. She looked more surprised and confused. She blinked and her eyes were black and red, same as Rize's and now, Ruby's. She ushered Ruby to enter before blinking again, her eyes changing back to their normal. Ruby, being ever so trusting, walks into the small cafe. Inside, she looks around to see the girl in the coffee shop, failing as the coffee shop appears to be completely empty. Sighing, Ruby turned to the door to leave, only to get slammed against the wall and held there by a forearm on her neck.

"What did you do to Rize!?" The girl growled out, her eyes were black and red. The first trademark of a Ghoul, with second being their Kagune.

"Y-You didn't hear? Sh-She..." Ruby started, tears forming in her eyes.

"She died..." Ruby finally got out.

"Wh-What?" The waiter said, shocked but still keeping the 15 year old rose haired girl pinned against the wall.

"She attacked me... almost killed me... then girders fell onto her and... they used her organs to save me and now... I'm..." Ruby trailed off.

"Now I'm a Ghoul too..."

The waiter eventually let her down from the wall, after a minute or too. "God damn..." The waiter mumbled.

"Could you..." Ruby started before trailing off again. "C-Could you teach me how to be a Ghoul?" Ruby asked. The waiter looked to her for about five seconds before sighing.

"Come here in the morning."


	5. Chapter 4: Hiding

"But first," The waiter said. "We gotta get some meat in ya!" She continued before walking into the back, leaving Ruby in the abandoned storefront. After a few moments of silence and Ruby absentmindedly touching things such the corners of chairs and tables, the waiter came back with a brown package in her hand. She held it out for the red reaper. "Here. Eat." Ruby gently took it out of the waiter's hand.

"Th-This... it's people?" Ruby asked, her hands shaking. The waiter nodded.

"If what you said is true, which I believe, then you can't eat other things. Nothing besides people. You can stall with coffee, but that's about all you can do. So eat. If you don't eat after a while y-" the waiter said before being interrupted.

"I go feral... right? Can't control myself? Hurt those I love?" Ruby asked. The waiter nodded regretfully. Ruby groaned and rubbed her eyes with her other hand before using it to open the brown package.

She then began to eat as the clock struck 12. Midnight.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

"RUBY!"

"WHERE ARE YOU RUBY?"

"RUUBYY!"

Yang and Jaune were out searching for Ruby. Ever since her exit, Team RWBY and JNPR have been searching for her but by now, Yang and Jaune were the only ones left, the rest being too tired seeing as it is currently 2:30 AM.

"C'mon Yang, we know Ruby. She can handle herself." Jaune said to Yang. Yang turned to the blonde boy and her eyes softened.

"I know but... I can't just leave while she's in pain!" She said, hands curled into fists. Jaune put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"She would want you to wait until you're well rested. She has your best interests at heart." Jaune said, a small smile on his face. Yang lightly smiled.

"When the hell did Vomit Boy become so wise?" Yang said, starting to walk back to the dorms with Jaune. Her statement caused him to simply smile and roll his eyes. They arrived at the dorms and walked in, headed towards the stairs so they could get to their room. That's when Yang saw her. Ruby. Her sister. She was walking towards the stairs to their dorm. Yang ran to her so fast, you would have expected rose petals to follow her. Yang hugged Ruby tight.

"WHERE WERE YOU!?" Yang said, tears in her eyes.

"O-Out..." Ruby said, stumbling from her sister practically jumping onto her.

"I was so scared." Yang said, her grip on Ruby not getting any looser.

"Y-Yeah... sorry about that..." Ruby mumbled, her voice barely audible. Yang was crying while she hugged Ruby, not because she was sad, but because she was relieved that her sister wasn't in danger.

"Don't do that again. Promise me." Yang said as Jaune walked to his dorm not wanting to ruin the moment.

"I... I won't. I promise." Ruby said lightly hugging back. "I won't."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby woke up this morning tired. Goddamnit, why did she close yesterday? It's been about a month since the incident of her running off. Everything's gone back to normal, though no one on team RWBY or JNPR knew where she went after school. Anteiku was a nice place to work. After her shift, she would train in hand to hand combat and was getting a lot better. She was a fast learner after all. She had to be with what she now was. Learn fast or die.

She sat up to see Weiss patiently waiting fully dressed. This was weird because yes, she does wake up earlier than the rest of the team, but usually only a couple minutes. But long enough to shower and get dressed. So what's caused this? Blake was waiting next to the personal shower, waiting for whoever was in there, presumably Yang, to get out.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked, eyes half lidded with sleep. Weiss turned to Ruby, her eyes glaring with anger.

"Of course you forgot! Only you could forget!" Weiss exclaimed, throwing her hands up. Ruby's eyes narrowed, as if to say "Just tell me." Weiss sighed and rubbed her eyes. "The CCG is coming by. Make sure nobody's a ghoul." She said. Ruby's eyes widened. 'SHIT! OH SHIT, FUUUUUCK! THE DAMN CCG IS COMING, I CANT BE HERE WHEN THEY ARRIVE!' Thought Ruby.

"That's today?" Ruby asked, eyes still wide. 'Thank god it's Sunday.'

"Yes that's today!" Weiss exclaimed, obviously angry.

"I can't. I have work." Ruby said getting up and grabbing her clothes.

The shower turned off. Yang walked out with a towel covering her. "You... have a job?" She asked. Ruby nodded. "Since when?"

"Oh, a couple weeks ago." Ruby said pushing Yang out of the way to get in the shower.

"HEY!" Yelled Blake, wanting to get the shower before the hot water was gone.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby got out of the bathroom, dressed for work. Weiss, Yang (now fully dressed), and Blake looked at Ruby in surprise.

"Spiffy." Yang said.

"Where do you work so that we may visit?" Weiss asked.

"It's called Anteiku." Ruby said before giving them the address and leaving.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby walked in and The waiter who had helped her when she walked in and got her this job, named Touka, looked up and raised a brow.

"You're not due here till 9. What're you doing here?" Touka asked.

"CCG's making rounds around Beacon. Making sure there's no ghouls. Couldn't stay." Ruby said. "So I thought I'd clock in, get some money."

"Well," Touka smiled. "I'd rather have you here than not." Ruby smiled in response and got to work.


	6. Chapter 5: Worry And Stories

When the three knocks arrived on the door, Weiss immediately stood up from her bed and opened the door. It wasn't what she expected. A man with white hair that reaches his shoulders, a deranged like smile, a grey trench coat with black dress pants and a red tie around the white dress shirt underneath the trench coat. Behind him, a man in a black suit with short black hair. Both were carrying large metal brief cases. The one with the white hair smiled while looking right into Weiss's eyes.

"We're here to search." He said, flashing his CCG badge. The one behind him did the same while muttering "Don't say it like that..."

Weiss slowly nodded. The two looked at the room.

"Now tell me," started the man with white hair. "Where's the fourth member of your team?"

"She had to go to work." Yang stated. The man with black hair nodded while the one in white went "Hmmm... interesting."

"I think we've got a Ghoul on our hands..." He muttered, the sound only registering to himself and, albeit unknown to him, Blake, whose eyes widened with her bow twitching for just a second before returning to their normal state.

"Now, we have a few more questions..."

After a few more questions, the two left and after a few seconds, Weiss turned to Yang. "That went well, right?" She asked hoping they'd say yes.

Yang made an "eh" sound while Blake was sitting on her bed, legs dangling over the edge. She opened her mouth and said something the other's didn't expect.

"That think Ruby's a Ghoul."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

"Hey, Rubes?" Touka asked with a smile, making some coffee for some customers.

"What?" Ruby asked, setting the ceramic coffee mug in It's to dry section next to the sink.

"Yoshimura thinks it's about time you got your mask. Told me to go with you to get it." Touka said, walking up to Ruby. "How about we go get you one after your shift?" This made Ruby smile.

"Technically, this is overtime. All I have to do is clock out." Ruby said. This made Touka smile wider.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

"What do you mean they think Ruby's a Ghoul?!" Yang said, eyes red and emanating fire.

"The one with white hair." Said Blake. "He muttered," Blake started before badly impersonating his voice "I think we've got a Ghoul on our hands." She said before returning with her regular voice as Yang calmed down and stifled a laugh from the bad impersonation. "Right after you said she went to work." Blake said to Yang.

"That seems a little presumptuous." Weiss pointed out.

"People are presumptuous."Blake said.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

The two walked out of the Café after clocking out for the day and were in their normal clothes. Touka was in jeans with holes at the knees, a black t-shirt she got from some concert, and a black hoodie that was unzipped. Ruby, not having any clothes here, was given some of Touka's clothes so she wore something similar, but she still wore her red cloak. Never leaves home without it. Touka wore her clothes like a badass, while Ruby wore Touka's clothes like she was a girlfriend who stayed over after a night of fun. Ruby's shoulder was easily visible due to the shirt being too large for her.

"Come on It's this way." Touka said, her face neutral. Ruby nodded and followed.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

"Should we tell her?" Yang asked.

"What, That the CCG may want to kill her!?" Weiss asked, her voice with sarcasm and worry.

"We should check on her." Blake said. The other two nodded and headed out for Anteiku.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

One Half Hour Later

 ** _~~Line~~_**

"What do you mean she's not here?!" Asked Yang to the man. The man had brown hair that curled and seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face, seeming to give Ruby a run for her money.

"I mean she's not here. Had to go out." Said the man.

"Will she be hear soon?" Weiss asked. The man opened his mouth to answer when the door opened and the bell rung along with it. A new voice comes in from behind them.

"So my foot's totally stuck in there right, I'm freaking out, the dog is having a seizure, and I've still got half a pie left!" Touka said, walking in with Ruby coming in behind laughing. That is until she saw team WBY there.

"Yang, what're you guys doing here?" Ruby asked, but the three teammates were too shocked at what Ruby was wearing. "Hello?" Blake was the first of the three to speak.

"Huh." Went Blake. Well, when I say 'speak' I more mean 'make any sort of noise.' They were surprised to Ruby wearing a shirt that held a man skewering Grimm on his sword with blood bathing him. Definitely doesn't fit the girl who is basically a ball of sunshine.

"Where'd you get those clothes?" Asked Yang. Ruby looked down at her shirt and realized what they were staring at.

"Oh this?" Ruby asked before continuing. "Well, I had to go somewhere with her and we couldn't just wear our work clothes so she let me borrow some of hers." She said before looking down and muttering, "I really need to bring some clothes here." She looked back up. "So what're you guys doing here?" She asked.

Yang opened her mouth to say something but Weiss interrupted her. "Oh, we just wanted to see where you work." Blake rolled her eyes.

"She also wants to make sure it's up to her standards." Blake said with a smirk, to which Weiss replied "Hey!" With a small blush of embarrassment.

"Weiss!" Ruby said in annoyance, furthering Weiss's embarrassment.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

"So, I'm sitting there," Touka said, sitting in a booth with Ruby next to her and the other three on the other side, all smiling. They had been doing this for an hour. "Barbecue sauce all over my titties," She continued, causing an eruption of laughter from Yang, a small chuckle from Blake, a flustering mess from Weiss seeing as she's visualizing it, and a "bad word!" from Ruby. "And that's when his mother walked in!" Touka continued. "She saw all the weird sh-stuff," Touka said, realizing Ruby was probably too innocent to hear this but she was in too deep. "Her son was into, and just closed the fucking door and fainted!" She said bringing even more laughter from from Yang.


	7. Chapter 6: Tension Rising

It's been a week since the CCG came around. The teams been doing fine and recently, Ruby's had more free time to hang out with her and Jaune's team. However, on one Sunday morning, something happened Ruby didn't want to happen.

"What!? You applied for the CCG internship!?" Ruby asked, wide eyed. Weiss, confusing Ruby's shock to excitement, nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! I'm gonna be training under actual investigators who will teach me the ins and outs of working there! I'll even be sent on cases with them! It's gon-" Weiss said before being interrupted by Ruby.

"Why!?" She asked. Weiss was a little confused by this and answered with that on her sleeves.

"Because it's a great opportunity and will help when I take over the SDC." Weiss said.

"I'm just... scared you'll get hurt." Ruby said, not saying her thoughts.

' _I'm scared I will be the one to hurt you._ '

"Don't worry. It's no different than fighting Grimm." Weiss said, looking over a pamphlet on the internship.

' _Wait, What!?_ '

"I'm sorry, but how is hunting down people the same as hunting down actual monsters?!" Ruby said, anger on her face. Weiss looked to her in confusion.

"They're hurting people." She said simply.

"They're doing what they need to do to survive!" Ruby yelled, by now Yang and Blake were just watching in shock.

"That doesn't mean that it's right."

"Just because they need to eat people doesn't mean they kill!"

"They're monsters who hurt people and you know that!"

"You're making it really hard not to punch you right now. Which is why I'm going out." Ruby said, getting up and walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Weiss asked, getting up from her bed, setting the pamphlet down and putting an arm on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby, being pissed right the hell off, turned around and pushed her away by pointing a finger against Weiss's chest saying, "Anywhere away from you.", and then pushing her back with the finger before leaving. Three people left in the room and all were shocked.

"I'll talk to her. See what's wrong." Yang said after a few seconds of silent shock.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Yang was walking around when a person she recognized from Signal walked up next to her.

"Hey Yang." Said the boy. He had orange hair that was short, glasses, a chin so sharp it could cut glass, and a calming demeanor.

"Hey Nishiki. I'm a little busy looking for Ruby so, I'll get back to you." Yang said. The boy now called Nishiki nodded.

"I don't have anything to do today so let me help." Nishiki offered. Yang sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, fine." Said, giving in. She looked around and saw Ruby getting on one of the bull heads to Vale. "There!" She said, running towards it. By the time she got there, it was already off, but next to it was another one headed to Vale and the two arrived on that.

When they got down they saw Ruby head over towards Anteiku.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled out running after her. She turned around just as Yang tackle hugged her.

"Yang?!" Ruby said, in both shock and residual anger. "You followed me!?"

"You scared me! What's going on with you?" Yang said, concern filling her voice and lilac eyes.

"I'm fine!" Ruby said before noticing the man next to Yang. "Nishiki." Ruby said coldly. Yang picked up on the edge of that sentence.

"You know each other?" She asked. Ruby nodded.

"Yeah," said the red reaper with the same cold tone with an edge. "He frequents Anteiku. And he never tips, the bastard." She lied, the last two words shocking Yang. Touka has had more of an effect on Ruby than she thought.

"Why should I have to tip?" Kishiki said with a hint of annoyance. Like he's made this argument more times than he can count. "Why don't they just pay people normal wages!?"

"Let's talk about this over lunch." Yang said, lightly pushing Kishiki. "Don't think you're not in the clear yet, Ruby."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

The three walked about towards the restaurant when Nishiki stopped. Yang stopped to. No one was around except them.

"Nishiki, why'd you-" Yang started before Nishiki quickly brought his leg up and kicked her in the head, sending her flying into the alley they were next to.

"Nishiki, I swear to-!" Ruby started before Nishiki punched his hand into her stomach.

"God you're annoying." Nishiki said before tossing her off his hand and into the alley. Ruby dented into the wall of an abandoned trailer. Ruby groaned and fell out of the indentation. Nishiki walked past her. "I have been trying this eat this blonde headed bitch for 3 goddamn months now but you've been blocking me time and time again." Nishiki said, arriving at the unconscious blonde. He put his foot on her head.

"Don't..." Ruby growled, glaring at Nishiki. He simply laughed.

"Don't What? Do this!?" Nishiki asked, raising his foot and stomping on her head. Her aura had regained enough to block that attack. He then kept the toes of his shoe on her temple while moving his heel from left to right.

"Don't..." Ruby said again, getting up. "Fucking..." She was on her feet, looking down with her hair covering her eyes. She suddenly looked up at him, rage in her eyes and her eye a Ghoul's and her Kagune, 4 red tentacles, sprouted out of her back, her fists balled up. She jumped towards Nishiki who was looking down at Yang at the time. " _ **TOUCH HER!**_ " She shouted, her Kagune pushing ahead of her, pushing through the chest of Nishiki, causing him to be pushed back, far back seeing as the tentacle would stab him, retract and another would stab him, retract, and repeat. By the time she was done, Nishiki was full of holes and crawling away. Ruby's tentacle Kagune retracted back into her body. She collapsed onto her knees and pulled out her scroll. She pressed a few buttons before putting it to her ear.

"Hey Touka? ... Could ya come help? I'm bleeding out." She said before collapsing onto her chest, her scroll falling out of hands, clattering onto the floor.


	8. Chapter 7: The Truth Will Set You Free

Yang woke up in a bed to a ceiling she hadn't seen before. She was confused and slowly sat up. The room was nice and homey. The wooden door opened. Touka entered.

"You're up." Touka said in an even tone.

"So I am... Why am I here? Where am I?" Yang asked, looking around at the room. It was mostly empty. The bed she was on, a table, and a couch was all that was in the room.

"Well, you were attacked by a Ghoul. Ruby got you out of there alive but you were unconscious so... she brought you here. Anteiku." Touka said, bending the truth a bit.

"Nishiki's okay?" Yang asked. Touka nodded quietly in response. Yang nodded and looked down. She still needed to talk to Ruby. "Can you send in Ruby? I really need to talk to her." She said with a hint of desperation in her eyes.

"Yeah..." Touka said. "I can do that." She stood up and headed outside, leaving the blonde in silence.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Touka walked up to the working Ruby. Ruby looked up at her, slight confusion in her eyes. "What're you doing down here? It's not your shift for an hour." She said.

Touka rolled her eyes. "Yang woke up. She asked to speak to you." She said, watching as Ruby's eyes lit up. She walked towards the door. Touka stopped her. "Remember our first lesson here?" She as Ruby stared in confusion. Ruby nodded in acknowledgment as Touka's words came back to her mind.

' _Lesson 1 of working at Anteiku. You make anyone think this place has a Ghoul or is run by Ghouls or is Ghoul related... then I will kill them._ ' Said the memory of Touka.

"Good." Touka said. "Now head on up there. Don't keep a girl waiting."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby slowly opened the door to see Yang, waiting on the bed.

"Hey Rubes." Yang said, her demeanor calm and uncharacteristically quiet. Ruby couldn't help but quietly scoff at her nickname. She didn't even tell her the nickname and Touka still used it.

"Yeah?" Ruby asked, hoping it wasn't the question she thought it would be.

"Why did you argue with Weiss?" Yang asked. Right on the money. Ruby sighed. Thinking about the argument brought that anger back into her voice.

"That's none of your business." She said with a slight edge in her voice, sitting down on the couch. Yang slightly narrowed her eyes.

"Come on, We're sisters. Let me know what's going on." Yang said, looking to her sister with concern. 'What the fuck happened to half sisters? The fact you used to distance yourself from me.' Thought Ruby.

"It's fine."

"No. It's not.What you're doing isn't healthy. For you, and the group. So tell us." Yang said. She stood up, walking towards Ruby.

"No, it's fine." Ruby said, anger in her voice.

"Please, just tell me!" Yang said, getting a little desperate and sitting down next to Ruby.

"No!" Ruby said, her anger almost ready to burst.

"It can't be that bad just tell m-" Yang started before being interrupted by Ruby. Ruby stood up and turned to Yang in anger, one of her eyes a Ghoul's eye.

"I'M A GHOUL!" Ruby said loudly before realizing what she said as her eyes widened, along with Yang's. ' _Good thing they sound proofed the second floor..._ '

"Oh..." was all Yang could say as a response. At least at first. "How? If you are a Ghoul, than that means that our parents are Ghoul's right?" She asked. Ruby shook her head.

"It happened a few months ago. On my date with Rize." Ruby said. Yang looked confused and so Ruby continued. "At the end of the date, she... attacked me. She was a Ghoul. The doctors used her organs to save me and so..." Ruby then gestured to her eye.

"Ok... how do you get... people..?" Yang asked, unsure how to phrase her question. Ruby knew what was meant though.

"No, I don't kill people. I couldn't. When this all started... I tried... I just couldn't." Ruby said. "So now, I..." Ruby stopped for a second. "You know that one cliff, Lovers Quarrel?" She asked. Yang nodded.

"Yeah. Story goes that two lovers had an argument there, the fight got physical and they both went over together. It's a popular suicide spot." She said.

"That's where."

"Oh..."

The two sat in silence.

"Well, what happens now? One of you has to apologize." Yang said, Ruby looked at her in frustration.

"I'm not the one in the wrong! Weiss-" Ruby started before interrupting her.

"Doesn't know what she did wrong." Yang said, calming her sister down by putting an arm on her shoulder. "Unless you want to tell her you're a Ghoul, and guessing on how you told me, that's not much of an option, you need another reason." Ruby nodded in response. "Tell me," Yang started. "Have you had your period yet?"

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Weiss sat on her bed, still slightly shocked from Ruby's outburst when her scroll buzzed. She picked it up and saw a text message.

" _Hey... It's uh... it's Ruby's time of the month... so..._ " was what it said. Immediately, Weiss understood and brushed off the out burst.

" _Perfectly fine. I know how that feels._ " Weiss replied.

" _You're telling me._ " Yang jokingly replied.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

A large man with a white suit and hockey mask is on a building, snifffing. He growls.

" _ **She's nearby...**_ " he says in his low tone. His thumb wraps over the index finger.

 _Crack._

He starts laughing to himself.


	9. Chapter 8: First Day, First Kill

One day After Weiss and Ruby's argument on Ghouls.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Weiss stood in the elevator, waiting for it to stop. She was alone in the elevator. Myrtenaster at her side. She was in her combat skirt, the one she uses for Huntress duties. The white conflicted with the off black of the elevator surrounding her. It was stuffy in there, like there was no air that could move. The only things moving were her heart and her thoughts, both were going a hundred miles a minute.

' _Don't freak out Weiss, you earned this. But what if I didn't. What if they only hired you because of your last name? What if they don't like me? What if they don't like the way I dress?_ ' Weiss thought, looking down at her clothes at that last thought. ' _What if they don't find Myrtenaster good enough of a weapon? What if..._ ' She thought, her hand that was resting on the hilt of Myrtenaster tightened. She thought of one of the most likely reasons they hired her.

' _What if they hired me because they think Ruby's a Ghoul? And they're using me to get close to her and find out?_ '

' _What if I end up betraying a friend?_ '

The doors of the elevator opened to reveal a woman at a desk. It was a large curved desk. Maximum area of work with Minimum waste of space. Efficient. This coupled with the fact that she's the first person you see once you get on the floor told Weiss the woman's job.

Secretary.

Should be nice to her. Despite what people think, secretaries are more powerful than the boss they work for. Always. Knowing this, Weiss walked up to the desk and looked at the woman before speaking.

"Excuse me," Weiss said politely, garnering the attention from the woman. She looked to be around 23-24. Her eyes were a nice blue and her hair was to her shoulders, brunette in color. She had a smile on her face that Weiss tried to replicate but it just came up a little forced, which is good because it was a lot forced. "I have an appointment with a Mr. Kureo Mado?" Weiss asked, politely. "I'm his new intern and I hope I didn't misread the date on the acceptance letter." The secretary giggled.

"No, you certainly did not. Kureo Mado's office is that way." The secretary said pointing to her left. "Take your first left and then a right. Third office down." She said. Weiss nodded and went to leave before the secretary cleared her throat, causing Weiss to look back at her. The secretary's smile faltered, showing her concern. "Good luck dealing with Mr. Mado. He's... well... let's just say that he enjoys his job too much." The secretary said before going back to her duties. Her smile had completely fallen showing concern for the girl.

' _Enjoys his job too much? What does she mean by that?_ ' Weiss asked, not out loud but in her head. She nodded slowly in confusion before heading down to Mr. Mado's office.

When she arrived, she saw the white haired man that had searched her school sitting at the desk looking over some paper, grumbling about "goddamn paper work piece o shit." It was a little disconcerting. Weiss nervously knocked on the door. The man looked up at her.

"Ah, Weiss Schnee." The man said, his voice sending shivers down her spine. "You're my new Intern correct?" He asked, standing up.

"Yes, I a-" She started before, Mado picked up the paper work and pushed it into Weiss's arms.

"I'm going out, finish this work by 5." Mado said before walking out, leaving a confused Weiss. After a couple minutes, Weiss scowled.

"Mado..." She muttered, her voice full of rage. She then, albeit begrudgingly, spent the next 3 hours doing the paper work. After an hour of paper work, the secretary entered the room, asking for Myrtenaster to send it to get coated in the metal that can kill ghouls. She informed that at the end of the internship, the metal would be taken off with no damage to Myrtenaster. With this guarantee, Weiss agreed, as long as there would be no discoloration. That was guaranteed as well.

Finally after 3 long hours, Weiss finally finished the paper work. The secretary walked in, returning Myrtenaster, which had a layer of new metal that, if you weren't Ruby or Weiss, wouldn't be noticed. When she left, Mado walked in.

"You get the paperwork done?" He asked. Weiss nodded. Mado smiled creepily. Not purposefully, it's just how he was. Offsetting. Like a robot that doesn't quite convince you it's human. A flickering light in an otherwise perfect scene.

"Then lets go hunting."

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Weiss was unsure what was in Mado's metal briefcase or why he needed it to "hunt" whatever they're hunting. He had also gotten his partner, the man who accompanied Mado in his search of Beacon, a man named Koutaru Amon.

"What are we hunting?" Weiss asked, confused as to why the three were still in the city.

"Ghouls." Mado simply said. Weiss's eyes widened. It's her first day! And she's going to have to... ' _No, surely you won't be the one to do that... not on the first day..._ ' Weiss thought.

They walked into an alley and came up behind a Ghoul, eating a male corpse. Weiss gags, alerting the Ghoul to their presence. He turns around just as Mado's briefcase clicks open and the body of the briefcase falls to the floor, leaving the suitcase handle in his hands and three small blue tentacles connected to it. Before the Ghoul could react, Mado raised the handle and the tentacles quickly wrapped around the Ghoul's leg. Mado used this to smash the Ghoul into the ground a couple times. Amon didn't even bother opening his briefcase. After enough slams to make the Ghoul tired enough to stop moving besides breathing. He slammed the Ghoul in front of Weiss.

"Kill it." Mado said. ' _It?_ ' She asked in her head before noticing the deranged smile on the man's face. ' _That's what she meant... he enjoys killing Ghouls..._ ' She gripped the hilt of Myrtenaster righted as she pulled it out. ' _You can do this. Just get through the program and you don't have to do this anymore._ ' She raised it up into the air. She hesitated for just a small moment before driving it down, as if she were summoning a glyph. Mado smiles at her. "Congratulations, Your first kill." He said before walking off with Amon next to him.

Unknown to both detectives of the CCG, Weiss was silently crying.


	10. Chapter 9: RWBY, Lien For Your Thoughts?

**_This is kinda filler but it does set up the next arc I'm gonna do (which is replacing the Gourmet Arc because I can't just copy and paste the show into RWBY. Anyways, hope you enjoy._**

 _ **~~Line~~**_

It's 12:38 PM. The sky is shrouded in darkness, the moon being one large contradiction. The stars being smaller contradiction. One large, beautiful contrast. This is when the city of Vale is the most beautiful. It's also when the most dangerous. When all you see is a moonlit figure walking towards you, one of three things will happen.

1.) Nothing. It's rare but sometimes that stranger just passes, no fanfare, no music, nothing. Just silence.

2.) You get mugged. This is something that happens often enough that sometimes a mugger will mug 20 people and not even make 1 lien.

3.) You get murdered. Not as rare as number 1 but nowhere near as common as number 2. You walk along the sidewalk, someone is walking your way and you see them. You pretend not to as you force your legs not to run, to trust in human decency. But as you pass each other he puts a knife into your gut, making you think but a single sentence.

' _Oh goddamnit!_ '

One of these things are what Ruby thought would happen to her when she sees a man in a dark hoodie walking towards her on the sidewalk. She was carrying 3 coffees and a Coco (Weiss weirdly hates coffee) for team RWBY as they studied, fresh from Anteiku. But there this guy was walking towards her.

She kept her way and continued, strong, confident!

And clumsy.

As the two neared each other, Ruby, not looking where she's going, tripped on the sidewalk. The man caught her, saving the coffee and Coco as well. She looked up at the man who had a kind smile. His features were hidden but she could still tell that his eyes were warm and a deep shade of dark green with hints of orange, like the midnight emerald forest caught fire.

"Wouldn't want you to fall now would we?" Asked the man, his voice suave and deep, but not too deep. Just the right amount of deep. She was blushed and looked away when she realized she was staring.

"Sorry..." She mumbled. Surprisingly, the man understood her.

"It's alright, you had no way of avoiding it." He said.

"I-I need to go!" Ruby said before walking away. The man responded one final time.

"Was a pleasure meeting you!" He yelled out at the retreating figure. The retreating figure left his sight. He smiled and inhaled deeply through his nose. He exhaled. "She smells delicious... the finest cuisine I'll ever consume..." He says with a smile, his eyes now red and black.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

A few days later

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby was in Anteiku, making coffee while in her uniform. She heard a bell jingle signifying the entrance of a customer. She turned around to see the man from a few days ago. He's wearing a black hoodie, jeans, and skater shoes. His ruffled bed head hair is a dull orange, like dim embers. The rest of the crew is looking surprised and shocked. The man sees their reactions and scoffed.

"What? No party for the return of the prodigal son?" The man said, giving a slight pause before the word return. Touka was the first of the workers to speak up.

"What the hell are you doing here Braise?" Touka asked, her voice full of venom. The man, now known as Braise, smiled in cheerful mischief. Ruby liked his smile and unknowingly smiled herself, though something in the back of her head said stay back, like that instinct of keeping back from a fire, keeping you away from the beauty, but keeping both you and the fire safe.

"Well, I heard from the little grapevine," He started with a mocking tone before going into a his normal tone. "That this is best coffee place in town! So..." he said before giving a small shrug. "Here I am."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Weiss hated today. They were hunting down Ghouls, killing all but one and letting them lead the three to other Ghouls and the cycle continues. They just kbilled this one group (much to Weiss' discomfort (even though she incapacitated them and the two detectives did the actual "killing")) and as they did, Mado said, "You don't catch flies with sugar or honey, but with other fliers. I wonder what flies you'll catch us, little insect!"

God, why did she get this horrifying Internship?

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Yang was in the Beacon Gym. She was punching this orange punching bag that was hanging from the ceiling. She had the right form, she was bouncing on the balls of feet, always ready to move. She started thinking about the attack from a Ghoul her sister saved her from. The sound from her hits got louder.

' _I can't believe she protected me. She shouldn't have had to! I should've been stronger. I should've been stronger. I need to be stronger. For her._ ' She thought. ' _I'll get stronger and beat the fuck out of the person that tried to attack us!_ ' She thought, getting angrier as the thought went along, resulting in her semblance kicking in and her punching the bag off the chain and a hole in said bag, causing sand to leak onto the floor.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Blake was worried. She didn't show it of course, but she was worried. Her friend, (The two hung out and read together(in mostly silence, occasionally giving remarks about the book(though sometimes they would just talk about how good certain books are(Ninjas Of Love hasn't been discussed)))) Nishiki, hadn't been seen in, like, two days. They usually met up in the library, or they'd pass each other in the halls. Concerned, Blake had gone to his dorm room. Now she stood in front of the door of her friend's room, the door slightly ajar, allowing her to look in slightly. When she knocked on the door, it slowly pushed open revealing Nishiki, in the middle of the floor, curled up in a ball, A blanket over him.

She closed the door behind her and sighed. "Fucking slept in." She muttered before grabbing the blanket and picking it up off of him. She barely had enough time to wonder why the blanket was heavy before she saw the blood. It was a lot of blood. ' _Oh god so much blood. His eyes are black and red... Oh god..._ ' thought Blake. "Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling down next to him. His breathing was raspy.

"Need... Eat..." He said, to tired to do anything. ' _Shit... what do I do... he's really my only friend outside of RWBY and JNPR..._ ' Blake thought before she sighed. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up so that he sat in front of her. Letting her aura down, she revealed her shoulder.

"Eat." She said.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby brought Braise his order. Straight black coffee. He took it into his hands with a smile.

"You a huntress?" He asked before taking a sip. Ruby simply nodded in response before adding "In Training." He nodded. "Of course. Still exciting correct?" He asked. She nodded with a smile before going on a ramble about Beacon and fighting Grimm and her team and her friends and how she's currently rambling and how she just can't stop and how she's running out of breath and how she's getting light headed and-

 **THUD**

Huh.


	11. Chapter 10: Nishiki’s Redemption Part 1

After Nishiki had his fill, Blake used her Aura to repair the damage. It'd take a while, but whatever. The two sat in silence for what felt like hours but in reality was just 10 minutes.

"So, you're a Ghoul?" Blake asked.

"Yep." Nishiki said, popping the 'p' unenthusiastically. Blake nodded. A pregnant pause followed.

"So... how'd you make it past the CCG? When they searched the dorms for Ghouls?" Blake asked. Nishiki scoffed.

"Those pieces o shits wouldn't be able to tell a me from a human if I had my Kagune out!" Said the teen, a smile on his face. Blake giggled at that. They kept laughing until it died out into silence. The sound was deafening and so much so that Blake couldn't help but continue her line of questions.

"How did this happen?" She said, gesturing to the blood they would have to clean up. Nishiki sighed.

"I tried to eat this one girl. Lady... whatever, she was about your age." Nishiki said, gesturing to Blake. "I almost got her too. Then her sister came. Sister was a Ghoul. Not sure if they were adopted or what but She used her Kagune on me when I was distracted." Nishiki said. Blake patted him on the shoulder. They were silent for a moment before she spoke up.

"Ever need a meal to stave off starvation, text me and we'll meet in the library. Okay?" She said.

"R-Really?" Asked Nishiki.

"I'll take that as a yes." Blake smiled. "But please, find a way to eat without... you know..." she trailed off. Nishiki understood however. He knew of a way, he just... it felt like charity to him and that just... it rubbed him the wrong way... but...

She asked him to.

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Ruby rose (Yang started laughing) from the bed in Anteiku's second floor, slightly confused as to why she was there. Last thing she knew, she was working...

"Oh god..." Ruby said, covering her face in embarrassment due to the memories she was remembering. She talked herself out! She didn't even know that was possible...

Sighing, Ruby stood up and walked out the door. She was still in her uniform. She went downstairs and looked at the time on the clock near the entrance was 2 hours after the store closed. She sighed and mentally cursed herself before going back up to get her (Touka's) spare clothes. She quickly got out of her work uniform and put it in a bag of hers. She then went down the stairs towards the door, but then she saw him.

Sat outside the coffee shop Anteiku was Braise, an umbrella over his head, defending him from any unnecessary moisture. Ruby was a little confused as to why this man was here. He was a customer, he had other things to do, presumably.

She opened the door to the outside. She would've went next to him if it weren't for the rain. Damn rain. Whenever it rained in Beacon, she felt... stuffy. No... sick? It was like she couldn't perform at her best. She looked at Braise who was sitting on the bench, watching the rain.

"What're you doing hear?" She asked over the pounding rain. He turned to her with a kind smile.

"Waiting for you, of course." He said, causing her to blush. "Wouldn't want you to get wet, now would we?" He said jokingly. She smiled back now.

"Well, come on then!" She said, gesturing him to come over to her. "If I run over to you I'll get wet!" She explained with a joking grin. He looked down at the ground and laughed a small laugh before walking up Ruby. His smile was kind and Ruby just couldn't help but be drawn into, like how one's eyes naturally drift to a fire. He stood in front of the door, holding his umbrella in a way so that both could walk without getting wet. When she stood next to Braise her face was as red as her namesake and hot, as if she were standing next to a bonfire.

"Now, it's off to Beacon." He said with a smile before gesturing her to start walking. "I don't really know the way." He said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. Ruby nodded and started walking with Braise behind.

"It's fine. I can lead the way." She said with a smile. Braise nodded and returned with a smile of his own. The two laughed and started walking and talking, telling stories, etc

Eventually, the two were able to see Ruby's dorm. Unluckily, That was when a particularly strong gust of wind pulled the umbrella out of Braise's hand.

"Hey!" Braise shouted out to the air that had taken his umbrella. Ruby let out an "EEP" as suddenly a wave of cold rain landed onto her and Braise. The two quickly ran into the dorm at the enterance. Panting, the two looked at each other and both started laughing. Eventually they calmed down with a smile on their faces. "That was my favorite umbrella..." Braise mumbled. Ruby giggled at that.

"Well, it's been fun. See ya next time Braise." Ruby said before walking towards the stairs.

"It's Feu." Said Braise. Ruby stopped next to the stairs and looked back at him. "My name. It's Feu Braise." He finished. Ruby smiled and nodded.

"Got it. See ya next time Feu." Ruby said before going up the stairs out of sight.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Ruby woke up the next day with a smile on her face, like every other day. She got up and got her uniform (and Touka's clothes(the ones she got wet last night(from rain, get your mind outta the gutter))) and put on her clothes to go to work today. As she walked onto the bull head to Vale, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. She shook it off and kept walking to Anteiku.

She never made it that day. As she walked past an alley she's walked past hundreds of times, a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled a white rag over her nose and mouth, causing her to pass out. The hand dragged her into the alley.

Nishiki, who was following Ruby to Anteiku to ask for... you know, ran to the entrance of the alley, but saw no one. "Damn..." He muttered. "Must be near..." He said. He sniffed the air. "Trails here..." He looked up to the sky. "No rain today... gotta be quick though. Trail'll pass off from the residue eventually..." He stood up and pulled out his scroll he typed a single message to a contact he hasn't sent a message to in a while.

 **Touka**

 **Saw Ruby get taken**

 **by some guy.**

 **Following their trail.**

 _[Navigation Point Sent]_


	12. Chapter 11: Nishiki’s Redemption Part 2

Touka was working at Anteiku when a familiar face walked in. A mother and her daughter. Touka smiled and gestured with her head to the upstairs door. The mother nodded and walked through the door. Her phone buzzed.

 **Orange Haired Cunt**

 _ **Saw Ruby get taken**_

 _ **by some guy.**_

 _ **Following their trail.**_

 _[Navigation Point Sent]_

Her eyes widened before going upstairs, changing, and walking out Anteiku and then turning into a sprint towards the navigation point.

Nishiki sent the message and put the scroll away. He looked down to the ground and crouched. Footsteps and drag marks. Assuming that Ruby herself isn't dragging someone, Nishiki came to the assumption that whoever took Ruby had these footprints. Size, oh, eleven maybe. Nishiki sniffed. ' _Good. Dove didn't take her._ ' Thought Nishiki. He stood up and started following the scent of Ruby and the man who took her, who Nishiki affectionately called "creepy alley dude" or "CAD" for short. Whoever CAD was, they were smart. They were hiding their trail every now and then. ' _Speed semblance?_ ' Thought Nishiki. ' _Maybe. There are deteriorating rose petals now and then. That fits her semblance. But she's out cold..._ ' His eyes widened. ' _A copy cat semblance? Damn, that'll be hard to beat. I heard Velvet had one. No, hers copy's one fighting style and semblance if she takes a picture of it... I think. Don't know her too well. This one seems to be just the semblance so far._ ' His eyes scrunched in suspicion. ' _Does Velvet have a sibling?_ ' His eyes then widened slightly.

' _Does Blake have a brother?_ '

Ruby's eyes slowly opened. God, she feels like Yang on a Saturday Morning. ' _What happened last-_ ' Ruby then remembered the rag going over her mouth and was now aware of the bindings on her ankles and wrist. She jostled around, causing only noise as the table she was on moved but the bindings were tight on her. ' _Alright, Maybe I can get out with my Kagune._ ' Thought before trying to summon her Kagune. However, right when she did, she felt painful electricity coursing through her, the source? The collar around her neck. She screamed as this went on. After a second or two, it stopped. She panted for a while before she heard a familiar voice.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Didn't your mother teach you party manners?" The voice said before Fae walked out of the shadows, a smile that stunned her, like a fire out of control. Despite her shock, she was still there enough to look sullen at the mention of her mother, Summer. Fae saw this and his face turned into what could easily be described as the fakest pout in existence. "What?" He asked. "Too soon?" He finished with a laugh.

"Fae, What is going on?" Ruby asked, getting very worried.

"Why, isn't it obvious?" He said, raising his hands from his sides to gesture to the room. "I'm preparing a feast!" He said, his voice ecstatic and reveling in her anger and sorrow. "And you? Why, you're the main course!" He said, pulling out a scroll. He flipped the screen so she could see. On the screen was a live video of Nishiki walking into a warehouse, presumably where she currently is.

"And the appetizer has just arrived!"

Touka arrived at the enterance of the alley, Nishiki is no where to be seen. She looked to the ground and saw two sets of foot prints and what appeared to be drag prints. As they went on, the drag marks and a set of footprints faded. ' _The one left must be Nishiki._ ' Thought Touka. ' _Hope Ruby's okay..._ '

Nishiki had followed the trail to an abandoned warehouse. Of course it was an abandoned warehouse. Why can't it ever be a fancy hotel? Or someone's house? Or... some other example... whatever, the point is, he was outside an abandoned warehouse he did not want to enter.

But he did.

As he pushed open the door he heard a voice coming from what appeared to be the ware house's P.A. System.

"Hello there!" Said the voice, his voice crackling like a fire due to the shitty quality of the P.A. System. "I know you must be wondering, why oh why did I take this poor poor girl?" The voice asked in a mocking tone. Nishiki scowled. "Well, I'll answer. IF you find me..." The voice said before laughing maniacally and shutting off the P.A. ' _He's using the P.A. System... that means he must be in the control room._ ' Nishiki thought to himself. In front of him were two doors. One on the left, one on the right. He looked a little suspicious at them but went to the door on the left. He opened it swiftly before seeing what was inside. A shotgun rigged to shoot after the door opened.

"Shi-"

 _ **BANG**_

Nishiki flew back into the wall, his aura flaring up in time to protect him, even though he didn't need it as his flesh protects him from everything nigh Doves and Grimm. Hurt like a butch though. He groaned as he stood up and looked at the room with the shotgun in it.

' _Just a damn broom closet._ ' Thought Nishiki. He opened the other door to reveal a room of wall to wall, floor to ceiling, mirrors. They lined the walls, floor and ceiling, and there seemed to be pillars wrapped in mirrors.

"Come the fuck on." He said aloud. The P.A. System turned on again.

"Ah, Yes!" Exclaimed the voice. "My hall of mirrors. You should watch your step." The voice continued as Nishiki kept walking. "You never know what might trip you up!" He said as Nishiki stepped on a nigh invisible wire that caused the mirrors on either side of him to turn, revealing a flame thrower behind each. As the boys eyes widened as he saw one of them, he could only assume they matched. "Out of the frying pan, INTO THE FIRE!" He heard the P.A. System yell before the weapons started spitting flames. He had barely enough time to roll forward towards the other door of the hall of mirrors. The flames kept spitting towards each other and eventually stopped, revealing the mirrors on either side of the revolving ones to be blackened. "Aww, Damn. Oh well, more trials!" The voice yelled before the system cut.

"Damn psycho..." Nishiki muttered. He looked down the hall. He smiled to himself and sprinted towards door. As he ran, behind him flames were spat, guns were fired, explosives fucking exploded and shit. He literally jumped through the solid wooden door. As he got up, he heard the P.A. System turn on.

"You know... I genuinely thought it'd take you a little longer to get here." Said the voice. He looked to the side and saw, behind a wall of glass, Ruby, strapped to table, crying. Nishiki growled as the man walked up to the glass. "Hardened Tempered glass. It's damn near indestructible." He said, his eyes were red and black. "Only two things have been know to be able to break it. A Grimm invasion and..." he started laughing. "Oh man! Almost gave you my secret there." He said, walking towards the back. ' _His secret? What could that mean...?_ ' Thought Nishiki. ' _He's a ghoul... Kagune! That's it!_ ' He thought a small smile on his face. His Kagune unleashed and wrapped his arm. "Y'know, I honestly thought I'd have more time to revel in her pain. Shame. She's quite the-" Said the man before the sound of glass shattering interrupted him. He turned in time to see Nishiki plunging the points of his Kagune into the man's gut.

"Ohhoho!" Said the man, a sadistic smile on his face. "You caught me while I was monologuing!"


	13. Chapter 12: Nishiki’s Redemption Finale

_"Ohhoho!" Said Feu Braise, a sadistic smile on his face. "You caught me while I was monologuing!"_

Feu's fist slammed into Nishiki's face, sending him stumbling back, pulling his Kagune out of Braise. He fell onto the floor as Nishiki stabled himself with the wall. Feu coughed up more blood and looked to Ruby.

"You... my finest cuisine..." He said, quietly before looking to Nishiki. "YOU WILL NOT WASTE HER!" He shouted and charged as 3 black jagged tentacles came out of his lower back. They were sent out ahead of him, locking Nishiki's two blue tentacles. They pushed on each other, each fighting a battle that neither wanted to lose.

Ruby was astonished at how hard the two were fighting. She couldn't just leave Nishiki. No... she had to help. She had to. ' _Maybe... I can just power through the pain.'_ Thought Ruby as she tried to summon her Kagune. The same pain came and she kept trying, attempting to push through the pain. After about eight seconds, it shot out of her back and immediately cut off the collar, destroying the source of the pain, thus relieving her of the struggle allowing her to relax for a second.

Nishiki And Feu pushed off each other, reaching opposite sides of the room. Feu snarled in anger. This was not going his way. How was this child pushing him back?! He lunged again towards him. The Ghoul Huntsman in Training easily dodged and plunged his Kagune into Feu's back. He cried out in pain before the noir colored Kagune wrapped around the bright blue one and tossed him through the wall, back into the (now mostly ruined) hall of mirrors before jumping after him, leaving Ruby tied to the table.

Ruby used her Kagune to slash the restraints on her, freeing her. She got up and headed to the hole left by Nishiki. She looked at Nishiki and Feu fighting hard, occasionally hitting mirrors instead of the enemy. She looked at her Kagune... and had an idea.

Nishiki was getting annoyed. This bastard, just wouldn't die! He needed to end this soon before he's the one who-

All of a sudden, a red blur surrounded Feu. It circled around the man multiple times for about 10 seconds before it stopped and Ruby appeared between the two men. Nishiki looked at Feu. He looked fine. That is until he saw the stabs and slashed starting to gush out. He collapsed onto his knees, clutching the knew wounds. There were too many. He fell onto his chest, gasping for air. Ruby looked Nishiki in the eyes.

"Let's go home." She said. Before collapsing onto Nishiki.

Touka arrived at an abandoned warehouse. 'Trail ends here...' She thought. The door opened to reveal Nishiki holding an unconscious Ruby bridal style.

"Ruby!" She yelled, running to Nishiki. She hugged the unconscious reaper.

"Come on, let's get her into a bed." Nishiki said with a smile.

Ruby woke up slowly. She woke up to the same old ceiling of Anteiku. Same old smell of Anteiku Coffe. But something was different. People were arguing.

"I don't care if you don't like it, it's the god damn uniform!" Yelled out one voice. Feminine, tomboyish. It belonged to Touka. Sound couldn't leave the rooms but it could enter from the cafe.

"It's a fucking shitty uniform and you know it!" Said another voice. Male, sounded conceited, easily angered. Nishiki?

Ruby got up and went down to the cafe. She was still in her huntress uniform. She opened the door between the stairs and the cafe to see Nishiki and Touka at each other's throats. Nishiki was wearing an Anteiku uniform. It was... funny. That uniform on Nishiki?

That's like putting a hat on a pit bull.

Ruby started laughing. The two that were arguing turned to the laughing Huntress in Training. They were a little confused before Nishiki realized and his eyes turned from confusion to anger.

"YOU LAUGHING AT ME YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!?" He yelled, causing Ruby to double over in laughter.

Feu was bleeding out on the floor. No, he couldn't die here, like a rat! No... he had to survive. He slowly stood up and started walking out of the ware house.

"Must... get... to Aogiri..."

Kureo Mado, Kotaro Amon, and Weiss Schnee were all walking to wards what appears to be a metal shack. Apparently, this was where a ghoul got a weapon, Weiss doesn't really care. She just wants this internship to be over. It was a terrible idea.

The wall of the shack gets knocked down as a man tumbled out of the house as if he were thrown. When the dust settles, a large man with what appears to be a white suit on is revealed.

"Jason." Mado whispered angrily, and yet gleefully. Mado's briefcase opened up to reveal the the tentacles and Amon's opened up to reveal a large double handed mace, like a cylinder attached to a stick. Weiss pulled out her rapier with little flourish and the three attacked the suited Ghoul. The suited Ghoul was already bored of the situation and so when Mado's weapon tried to wrap around Jason, the Ghoul's Kagune wrapper around it and destroyed the weapon. Mado looked at the destroyed weapon and frowned.

"Aww." He simply said before being kicked away by Jason. Jason the promptly ran off. Weiss went up to the doctor and saw he was a Ghoul. Mado saw too. "I wonder what Quinque you'll make for us." He said before turning to Weiss. "Kill him." She swallowed. She raised her rapier and plunged it down. Her face was contorted in rage and anger. Not because she killed a man.

But because she no longer cried because of it.

In the man's hands lay a child's drawing. Of him and his family. He had a daughter.

She started to cry.

A few days later.

Ruby brought coffee to the small girl that was newly brought to Anteiku. She was nice. Her name was Hinami Fueguchi. Ruby's even begun teaching her. She and her mother left today to go to a book signing and It was Ruby's day off so she's just walking around Vale (the city) in hopes of finding something interesting. What could go wrong?


	14. Chapter 13: Lost Things

Ruby's day was going pretty good. There were no people crashing through her door drunk (Qrow and sometimes Yang), no people kidnapping her, nobody was getting murdered, it was a good day. Except for the rain. Rain was fucking annoying. It's like it fogged up her senses.

She was walking around, looking for supplies for team RWBY(even though it's summer break, food as well. All the junk food goes missing whenever Weiss is left alone with it. 'Maybe Weiss really hates junk food? She was etched into a prude by her father...' thought Ruby. She then heard the little girl from Anteiku.

"Ruby! Touka! Mommy needs help!" She was yelling. She was on the other side of the street from Ruby at this moment. Ruby quickly went to the other side of the road, dodging traffic, and crouched to be eye level with Hinami.

"Hinami! What's going on?" Ruby asked. She was concerned for the currently crying Hinami.

"Doves!"

 ** _~~Line~~_**

10 minutes earlier.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

That's it. Weiss had to quit this internship. She is going to leave end of the fucking week. It was raining, which would've done wonders to her damn outfit, so she wore a large white over coat over her normal out fit. They were waiting in an alley when a child ran in, followed by a woman, presumably the girl's mother.

"Where's daddy..?" Weiss heard the little girl ask quietly. The mother brought the girl behind her and looked at Mado who smiled.

"Hello, Mrs. Fuegechi. How's the husband?" He asked. The woman said nothing. "You going to go peacefully?" Mado asked again. The woman growled. "Good. Wouldn't want the family reunion to be boring!" He said enthusiastically. "Say hi to Daddy!" He yelled out, pulling out the handle of the metal suit case and swinging it towards them. The handle was attached to a pale yellow, large, spiked tentacle with red veins that could extend to a point. Before it could hurt the mother or the child, the mother's Kagune kicked in. Four wide tentacles wrapped around the two women.

After about 15 seconds of silence and inaction, the dome unfurled and the kid sprinted out of the alley. Mado frowned. "Shame..." He said quietly. "I wanted to collect the whole family!" He shouted, charging at her with the stolen Kagune. She brought her Kagune back up around her as the Mado and Amon started attacking the protective dome. Weiss did nothing but watch as these grown men attack this mother who seemed to do nothing wrong.

She watched as the two attacked and attacked for about 15 minutes straight. They stopped attacking and the dome fell and revealed a tired Mrs. Fuegechi. As this happened, just out of Weiss's focus, Weiss could swear she saw the kid try to run in and save her mother, only to be pulled away by Ruby Rose. But she was supposed to be refilling the mini fridge and all the junk food Weiss ate- THREW AWAY... anyway, so she must have seen wrong, right?

Mado raised the stolen Kagune.

"Y'know, watching ghouls mimic human behavior is like bad theatre. SO HOW ABOUT WE END THE SHOW!?" Mado yelled out, delighted and elated.

He swung at Mrs. Fuegechi's neck.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Ruby pulled Hinami away from the alley and into a hug. Hinami cried into Ruby's chest while Ruby whispered sweet nothings.

"It's okay."

"You'll be fine."

"Everything will be fine." Was the one she whispered as the Dove with a crazed smile and white hair cut off Hinami's Mother's head. A lone tear fell down her face. With that horrible thing witnessed, she picked Hinami up and quickly went to Anteiku.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

"DAMN THEM!" Shouted Touka, slamming her hands into the table. Hinami was already upstairs. Ruby put her hands over Touka's fists.

"Calm down." Said the scythe wielder, still wearing Touka's clothes. Touka threw her hands up and out of Ruby's grasp.

"Calm down!? CALM DOWN?! How can I calm down about this?!" Shouted Touka. Ruby put her hands on Touka's shoulders in an effort to calm her down.

"Those fuckers need to pay!" Touka said, pushes her arms in between Ruby's and pushed them off of her shoulders.

"That'll only garner attention." Said Yoshimura, a fairly old looking man with his eyes seemingly closed at all times. He is the manager of Anteiku. "Then the doves will hunt us to extinction."

"LIKE THEY AREN'T DOING THAT ALREADY!?" Shouted Touka.

"We have to think of everyone's safety." Said Yoshimura calmly.

"So you're gonna do nothing? You're letting them get away with this!?" Touka said, rage burning in her eyes. She looked to the manager. "They killed one of our own and you're gonna sit here and let that slide!?" Touka said before walking out of the room and slamming the door, causing Ruby to jump a little.

"Touka..." Ruby mumbled. "It's my fault... I just fucking stood there..."

 _ **~~Line~~**_

Weiss had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, there were some upsides to the internship. Such as Amon getting her noodles with other investigators, and...

Well, that's about it.

But they were DAMN good noodles.

After what happened today with the mother, she really need the warmth of noodles. Now that she had that, all she had to do is find out how to get back to Beacon for here. ' _I swear this city is a damn maze._ ' Thought Weiss as she walked towards the other investigator to ask for directions. He had round glasses and short brown hair. His name was Kusaba. He was walking with his partner when a blur rushed passed him. A large red line appeared on his face and he fell over, dead.

Weiss's eyes widened as she saw the figure. Suddenly Amon pushed them out of the way. "Get outta here!" He told them. Weiss didn't leave. She immediately went and started performing CPR on the man attacked by the ghoul in vain.

Amon and the ghoul with a bunny mask engaged as Weiss watched, analyzing who this mysterious attacker was. They wore a bunny mask and had a large black jacket over them. She had pink hair and pink shoes. She was also beating the shit out of the Quinque-less Amon.

She kicked him down to the ground and jumped up above him, releasing her Kagune. It was like a flame shooting out of her left side. This flame then shot out shards at Amon, who easily dodged away. She didn't let up though and proceeded to kick him into a wall. He painted and looked like he was about to give up for a second. He then clenched his fist and went for an attack, only to be interrupted by the stolen Kagune of Mr. Fuegechi which pushed the bunny masked ghoul away.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Said Mado, revealing himself to the attacker ghoul. "Were you going to try and take her on all by yourself?" Mado asked Amon. "Now you see why it always helps to have your Quinque with you." Mado said, stopping in from of Amon.

"Right. Thank you." Amon said, stoic as ever.

"Losing your composure in the battlefield is dangerous. Don't forget that."

"Yes sir."

"How about I take this dance?" Mado asked, walking towards the bunny masked enemy. He had a deranged smile on his face as he swung his Quinque forwards at the girl who jumped in the air to dodge it, only for it to follow her up. She swiftly spins out of the way and kicks off of it, landing onto a phone line pole standing.

"Ooh!" Exclaimed Mado in sick curiosity. "You're a nimble one aren't you?" He asked "This is gonna be fun." He said with a more gravelly tone.

"Let me guess, were you buddies with the She-ghoul I popped off yesterday?" He asked. "You missed quite a show! Might I tel you how that pathetic sow met her demise?" Mado said antagonistically m, aiming to get a rise out of her. She visibly faltered and grunted in anger.

"Oh my! Where are my manners? I know it was recent but I can't help but bring it up." He said with feigned sympathy. "I mean, she was so weak and helpless." He said before laughing sadistically. "But I put her out of her misery!" He said once more hoping for her to speak.

"Sick bastard..." Was inaudible under the voice but she attacked. She attacked with her fists, with her feet, but he always calmly dodged.

"Would you look at this, Amon?" Mado asked, easily dodging attacks like child's play. "This is a chance for us to review what you learned at the academy." He said, still dodging. "A ghoul with her type of Kagune attacks swiftly, relying on speed and guile. Despite this, they have low stamina. If you dodge long enough to tire them out," Mado gestured to the panting bunny ghoul. "They're done for." He said as she charged him only to be tripped by his Quinque.

"Now, about you're dead friend." Mado asked, glaring at the collapsed ghoul. "She had a kid, didn't she?" He asked curiously. "Be a good sport and tell us where we can find her." He puts on a disgusting grin. "Poor things been separated from her mother. Do you have any idea how hard that is on a child?" He asked. "I have to hurry and kill her too."

"Damn you!" Yelled the Ghoul as she charged again.

' _Touka? No, it can't be._ ' Thought Weiss, still doing compressions.

Mado slashed at her, causing a pretty deep cut in her arm. "I've left more of your ilk in the garbage than you can eat of mine in a lifetime." He said. The rabbit(or bunny) ghoul started running off, Mado giving chase. "When it's all said and done, you'll just be another notch in my belt!" He yelled out, his Kagune chasing her up a telephone pole. It reached its distance limit though and and stopped chase as the ghoul got away.

"Shit." Mado said under his breath. "Well, no matter..."

"I'll remember you Rabbit."

 ** _~~Line~~_**

 _ **New chapter done! Goddamn it's been a while! Anyways hope you enjoy!**_


	15. Chapter 14: The Begginning Of The End

_**Sorry for the short chapter. Just haven't been feeling it lately. Just been having trouble following through and stuff. Anyway, hope this is good enough.**_

Ruby was calmly washing dishes in the back of Anteiku as she calmly mumbled the lyrics to some song she half remembered. At least, she was until Touka stumbles in through the back entrance. Ruby looked over and hurried over.

"Touka! What happened?" She asked. Then she remembered the words Touka had last said with Ruby in the room.

 _"So you're gonna do nothing? You're letting them get away with this!?" Touka said, rage burning in her eyes. She looked to the manager. "They killed one of our own and you're gonna sit here and let that slide!?" Touka said before walking out of the room and slamming the door._

"You got revenge didn't you..?" Ruby asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

"Just get the first aid kit." Touka snapped. Ruby visibly deflated a bit but went and got it anyway. Touka sighed.

' _God damn it..._ ' Touka thought to herself, berating her unnecessary show of anger.

Ruby came back with the first aid kit and handed it to Touka. Touka quickly took it and opened it up. She grabbed the gauze and anti infectant. That's when the manager of the cafe, Yoshimuru walked in.

3 Hours Later

Weiss, Yang, and Blake lay in their respective beds, waiting for sleep. Eventually, Weiss spoke up.

"Wasn't Ruby supposed to be back from work by now?" Weiss asked, looking over to the other two. Blake lay reading a book while Yang was on her scroll reading something.

"She said she's working overtime." Yang said simply. Weiss hummed for a second before grabbing her scroll which buzzes as she touched it. She looked at her new text messages.

' _Amon here, just want to let you know, we got a hit on the rabbit._ ' The rabbit. The ghoul that killed Kusaba. The one who Weiss suspected to be Touka. ' _You want to come you can. Otherwise it's just me and Mado._ '

Weiss' answer was immediate.

' _Be right there._ '

It's raining in Vale. Weiss stood by Amon as they followed Mado in the rain. They arrived at the docks where an enterance to the sewers lay. Mado quickly ran to it, leaving Weiss and Amon. The two blinked before groaning and following in a jog. Mado entered the sewers and before they could join him a figure dropped down in front of the two. Shorter than Weiss. They wore a red hoodie and blue jeans.

"Get out of our way." Amon said. The figure turned their head to them. They wore a mask. One eye was not covered, it's sclera black, iris blood red. This figure was a ghoul. The mouth section of the mask showed teeth clenched together, a zipper between the faux teeth.

"Can't let you go. This is between that dove," The figure said, their high pitched voice signifying a woman as this culprit. "And Rabbit." Weiss raised a brow at the word dove. "So we'll stay here and have a nice talk." She finished.

"I don't talk to monsters." Amon said pulling out the large cylindrical two handed mace of a Quinque.

"Well, that's a shame." The Eyepatch Masked young lady said. "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to violence." She said, seemingly not changing her stance to Amon's eyes. Weiss, however, notices the slight movements of the, oh, teenage girl moving her weight to the balls of her feet, as her partner, Ruby, would do the same right before they sparred (and right before she would tackle hug her) and so was ready for her next move. Amon charged and swung at the ghoul, only for the ghoul to jump over it, straight into one of Weiss's glyphs. This stopped the ghoul in their tracks caused them to uncoordinatedly fall to the ground only to get intercepted by the swinging of Amon's quinque, causing her to fly backwards away from them and towards the enterance to the sewers. The ghoul groaned as Amon rushed over and kicked them in the gut, sending them rolling.

"End of the line Red." Amon said and both the ghoul's and Weiss' eyes widened, though the ghoul's went unnoticed by both Investigator and Huntress-In-Training. ' _Red..._ ' Thought Weiss.

"Why do you hunt us down..?" The Ghoul said. "LIKE ANIMALS!" She yelled, looking up at Amon. "Why can't we just live in peace?" She asked.

Touka stood in the large underground space. It was a converging point in the sewers before it left the sewers.

"Well, if it isn't little rabbit!" Mado said, walking into the large room, looking only at the ghoul.

That was his first mistake.

"WE'RE AS HUMAN AS YOU!" The ghoul shouted. ' _She sounds so... familiar..._ ' Thought Weiss. Amon raised a brow as the ghoul stood up. "So why can't we just set aside our differences and live! That's all we want!" The ghoul said, spreading their arms out to the side. Amon faltered a bit.

"I would love to talk this out. But right now, I need to do my job." Amon said before charging with Weiss at his side.

"Goddamnit." The ghoul muttered.


	16. Chapter 15: Opposite, Yet The Same

Yo, I'm as surprised as this as you are but all of a sudden, I could actually write and shit so, yeah, here's an extra long chap.

 ** _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_**

Touka's wing shards flew from her kagune, clashing against Mado's Stolen Quinque as it flew after her.

"Can't run forever, little rabbit!" Mado yelled out.

"I'm not trying to!" Yelled Touka behind her bunny mask, now charging straight towards Mado. The Quinque is right behind and it stops, having reached it's full length due to sneaking around pillars.

"Huh." Mado said before Touka bashed into him sending him into his back. The Quinque stolen from the father Fueguchi fell from his hands, the spiked tentacle going limp. He sat up, grinned at the second suitcase and looked back at the maskless Touka as he had pulled the mask off when he was bashed into by the ghoul.

His grin widened when he saw the She-Ghoul's child behind Rabbit.

"Gotcha, hook line and sinker!" Mado muttered before coughing up blood.

 ** _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_**

"Something I always wanted to ask your kind." Amon said to the ghoul in red who had gotten knocked onto the ground, abandoning the idea of getting the ghoul to run. Weiss was following behind. "When you take the lives of innocent people, do you think about all the pain you're causing?" He asked, putting his foot on the girls hair which lay uncovered by the mask, the rain darkening it to black. "This world would be a better place without you." Amon said, gripping the cylindrical mace tightly.

' _That's a little harsh._ ' Thought Weiss.

"Think about all the orphaned children, families destroyed by grief... the loneliness..." Amon said, his voice gaining a gravelly tone. ' _Oh..._ ' Thought Weiss. "Are you're victims just faceless Entres to you!?" Amon said in anger, nudging the back of the ghouls head with the mace. "ANSWER ME YOU MONSTER!"

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"Do you have any idea what it feels like to be hunted down? When a person close to you is butchered for no good reason? The pain, the sorrow, the rage!" Touka said. "You monster!" She continued as Mado gained a delightful grin at her suffering.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"Your friend killed a good man the other day. Why did he deserve to die? Because he was an investigator? Because he was human!" He said before pushing the mace into the back of the ghoul's head, forcing it into the ground. "Bullshit! He was my friend and you killed him for no reason!"

 ** _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_**

"Ryoko never hurt anyone and you killed her, JUST FOR BEING A GHOUL!" Touka yelled in anger at Mado

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"This whole world's gone to hell... and it's your kind who sent it there!" Amon said, roughly poking the ghoul with the mace.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"There's only one way to deal with your kind!" Touka said, unleashing her Kagune once more.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

Ruby, in her red hoodie, blue jeans and black mask went tumbling once more as Amon had hit her in the gut as she tried to get up. Weiss watched on in stunned silence.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"KILL THEM ALL!" Touka shouted as she pulled her kagune back. Suddenly, Mado unleashed a second Quinque. Ryoko's. He used it by hitting her to the side. Hinami started making scared noises as she looked at the kagune from afar.

"Recognize it?" Mado said mockingly as Hinami's noises slowly got louder. "Don't be shy!" He said as her noises got louder. "SAY HI TO MOMMA!" Hinami was screaming at this point, tears flowing down her cheeks. "AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU'D BE HAPPY TO SEE HER ONE LAST TIME! MY MISTAKE!" He yelled before cackling.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Shouted Touka as she shot herself towards Mado.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

Ruby watched as Amon slowly walked over to her prone body. ' _Ghouls are screwing up the world?_ ' Thought Ruby, having never considered this before. ' _Is that really true..?_ ' She thought.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

Touka clashes against the stolen Quinque with rage fueled ferocity.

' _I mean, Ryoko didn't go out and terrorize or hurt anybody_!' Thought Ruby.

The stolen kagune slammed into where Touka was a second ago.

' _And what about Hinami?_ '

Hinami sat in the corner of the room, hiding from the fight as the room shook.

' _She had her loved ones taken from her too! Doesn't her pain count for something?!_ '

Touka fell face first onto the floor, her wing kagune retreating into her back. She slowly got up and the stolen kagune from Ryoko surrounded her and started squeezing the life out of her.

' _Ghouls have feelings too. No different from humans or Faunus._ '

Mado raised the Quinque along with Touka into the air as she struggled to get out.

' _Why can't people focus on that for a change?!_ '

Mado tightened the Quinque around Touka.

' _Why can't they see we're not all that different!? Why don't they understand!?_ '

Touka yelled in pain as Mado squeezed her with the Quinque.

' _How could something so obvious..._ '

Touka shot shards out of her Kagune which barely had enough room to appear. Mado quickly blocked with the Fueguchi father's Kagune.

' _Be so hard for them to see?!_ '

Touka was tossed against a pulled and the skewers through the stomach by one of the tentacles from Ryoko's Kagune, stolen by this white haired raving madman.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

Ruby gasped.

' _What if I'm the only one who's aware of it? Maybe, I can break through to them, make them see. Because I'm both human and ghoul! It's in my hands..._ ' Ruby thought while staring at the raining sky.

"You're wrong." Ruby spoke to the investigator known as Amon who was walking towards her, stopping at her words. "It's not the world that's messed up, gone to hell... it's those of us in it!" Ruby said, slowly standing up.

"Yes, some ghouls walk a path that leaves sorrow in their wake. But just like Humans and Faunus, we can choose a different path." Ruby said, shakily standing.

"We have a lot to learn. Both you're kind and mine and Faunus. We should stop fighting... and start talking things out! Because when it comes to the state of the world you can't blame one group of people..." Ruby said, looking down at her shaking legs. "We're all to blame."

Silence consumed the three.

"What are you talking about?" Amon said as Weiss looked over at the investigator, surprise on her face. ' _Mado would've just killed her. Though, that's good that he's not like that white haired psychopath._ ' Thought Weiss.

"I'm still not getting through to you, am I?" Ruby said, looking up at Amon. "I'll make you understand." She said holding her hands to the side.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"Gyaahhhh!" Shouted out Touka as the tentacle slightly moved around in her stomach.

"I can't wait to see the Quinque you become!" Mado said as he grinned maniacally at her. "You know honey?" Mado said, talking to Hinami now. "Using your mommy and daddy make for one powerful combo! I can't tell you how much I loved ripping the both to shreds!" He told the small child. "Blood everywhere!" Mado said as Hinami put hands over her ears.

"Stop it!" Touka interjected.

"Now then, any preference on who finishes the job, rabbit?" Mado asked.

"Blow it out your ass!" Touka said through grit teeth. "Sick old bastard!" She added.

"Someone should watch out their mouth!" Quipped Mado with barely contained disdain. The father Quinque reaches out and wrapped around Hinami who was screaming ever since it moved towards her.

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

Amon smashes the cylindrical mace against Ruby's stomach, sending her flying backwards. Amon took another two steps forward. ' _Where have I seen her before?_ ' Thought Weiss as she followed. Ruby stood up again and put her arms out to her sides. Amon slammed the mace into her face, sending her flying back. She stood up again and put her arms out to her side.

' _What can I do to get through to him? How can I make him see what I see?!_ ' Thought Ruby. She was hit again by Amon.

"She's not doing anything." Weiss said. Amon didn't listen to her.

' _We have to put an end to the fighting, the hostility. Stop taking each other's lives. If we could do that, then maybe, we can finally break free of this vicious cycle... Easier said than done._ '

"Stay down already!" Yelled Amon, slamming The Ghoul down to the ground once more. "I've had it with your game, you're a waste of my time." Amon said, he starts to walk away but to not Weiss' and Amon's surprise the Ghoul grabbed his ankle. "Let go of me." Amon said with venom tainting his voice.

' _Need to make sure he doesn't get to Touka and Hinami... hopefully they can handle one Investigator. Need to keep him here... but I don't have much the strength to fight anymore..._ ' Thought Ruby as Amon raises his mace.

"We need to go Amon." Weiss said, finally speaking up. He smack Ruby in the head with the mace and, Ruby's hand let go. Blood started pouring out of her skull, dispersing into the rain. Her aura quickly patched it up.

' _That's it. The only option I have left then... very well._ ' Ruby thought as her hand reached towards the zipper on her mouth. ' _I won't fight you... This once..._ '

Weiss and Amon were walking towards the entrance Mado entered the sewers with.

' _I'll let you do your thing._ ' She thought, undoing the zipper.

They had their back to the ghoul.

' _Don't make me regret it..._ **Rize**." Ruby said, her teeth bared.

Amon turned his head as he heard light pattering behind him. Ruby was charging him. He quickly pushed her back but she charged again, flipping over Weiss' slice at him. She was quickly able to jump onto him and take a large bite out Amon's shoulder. Weiss' and Amon's eyes were wide is shock and pain respectively. Amon quickly tossed her off and looked at his right shoulder. It needed patching up. "Shit..." he muttered.

' _This hunger... fuck, I should've eaten sooner. It's gonna drive me wild. Can feel myself slipping away._ ' She thought as her kagune came out of her back 2 medium sized tentacles. ' _Not gonna sacrifice who am! Not if I can help it!_ ' She thought.

Amon's eyes narrowed in anger and confusion along with Weiss. Why did this girl suddenly start fight when all she wanted was talk? ' _Probably because we didn't talk..._ ' Weiss deadpanned to herself.

Amon to the aid and Ruby blocked using Kagune. He swung again as Ruby ducked under it. Amon swung again and Weiss struggle to see a place where she could strike without a fairly large chance of hitting Amon. Amon just kept swing and Ruby kept dodging and dodging, red sparks flaring whenever he blocked. Suddenly, Ruby was on the offense attacking with Amon being one to dodge. Right when Weiss was about to take run for it, something quite surprising happened. The ghoul broke the Quinque in half, effectively disarming the man.

' _It's over. He can't fight without his weapon_.' Ruby thought.

"When a foe is before you, fight." Amon said,."Even if it costs you your life." He finished, glaring at the eye-patched ghoul.

"Run while you can." Ruby said as Weiss' and Amon's eyes widened in anger. "The way this is going... I won't have the strength to keep from killing you..." Ruby said as her kagune twirled around each other, twitch towards and away from Amon and Weiss. "So please... just run.."

"No," Amon said. "I'm not gonna run away from a ghoul." Amon said.

"Hurry!" Ruby said, her Kagune slamming Amon back. "I don't want to be the monster you think I am."

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

"I think you'd change your tune if you were born a ghoul." Touka said, skewered on the tentacle of Ryoko's kagune turned Quinque. "What the hell is wrong with wanting to live? Explain that to me. If humans are all we can eat, then what other choice do we have!?" Touka said, tears in her eyes.

"How are we supposed to live by your rules when our bodies won't let us!?" Asked Touka again, anger fueling her tears. "How do we survive!?" She said.

"We can't." She said, slamming her fist on the blood covered tentacle. "We can't! We can't! We can't!" Touka said, slamming her fist play the end of every sentence. Hinami is softly crying. "Don't you see we'd all die?!" She got quieter. "I don't want much. I just want to live my life the same way you do..." She said honestly. A pregnant pause overtook the room.

"Your blabbering is boring me. But I know how to shut you up!" Mado yelled out, raising the father Fueguchi tentacle over his head Hinami along with it. He swung it towards Touka.

Blood dripped into the water way.


	17. Chapter 16: Discoveries

_**Sorry if this feels fast and shit, I'm just really excited for a next part and exploring that whole thing. Anyway, enjoy!**_

 ** _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_**

 _"Your blabbering is boring me. But I know how to shut you up!" Mado yelled out, raising the father Fueguchi tentacle over his head Hinami along with it. He swung it towards Touka._

 _Blood dripped into the waterway._

"What just happened?" Mado asked in confusion. "My Quinque is gone." The father Quinque falls to the ground. "No..." Mado calmly looks down at his hand. It was floating in the water as his wrist leaked blood. "My hand is gone." Mado said, surprisingly calm. He looked over at Hinami. Her sclera black and her iris red. Out of her back or six tentacles. Two like her fathers, the other four, her mother.

"Stop hurting Touka... and stop using mommy and daddy like that... it's wrong and I won't let you!" She screamed, tears consistently flowing down her face as the two tentacles like her fathers started whipping at him. The investigator pulled his Quinque out of Touka, quickly bringing it in front of him to block the as he started cackling.

"I'm impressed honey! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Your kagune is truly something to behold!" He said with a smile. "I can't wait to turn you into my Quinque!"

Seeing a small opening in the child's attack, he pulle the Quinque to attack, only for crystals to fly out and hit the Quinque out of his hand. He looked back at Touka, who had her wing Kagune out with a scowl on her face. Mado matched her face and exceeded it in the amount of venom conveyed in a look. He opened his mouth to curse her, but was cut off with a flower petal shaped tentacle sending him flying across the room, tumbling when he landed until a pillar stopped his movement.

Touka walked towards the investigator as she looked to Hinami.

"Kill him." She said.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

 _"Hurry!" Ruby said, her Kagune slamming Amon back. "I don't want to be the monster you think I am."_

Weiss grabbed Amon and started pulling him behind her. He pulled back after a second or two, freeing him from her grasp.

"What are you doing?!" He asked, anger in his voice.

"You're injures and we need to get past her so I'm gonna beat this ghoul, you dolt!" Weiss said, a small scowl on her face, not even turning to him, her eyes set on the enemy.

Ruby couldn't help snort a little, trying to restrain the laugh. Weiss' scowl deepened. She charged forward, ignoring Amon's muttering of 'Damnit', and slashed at her midriff, only for her to back up quickly.

"You don't want to do this!" Ruby quickly said, leaning to her right to dodge a stab from Weiss. Weiss didn't respond as she kept up the attack, sending a barrage of slices, all dodged by the ghoul, who, having found an opening, kicked her in the chest back towards Amon.

Weiss landed gracefully with her rapier stabbed into floor in a kneeling position, her head to the floor. She looked up at the ghoul with a smirk as a white glyph appeared behind her. Ruby mentally sighed before opening her mouth.

"Oh son of a bi-"

Large icicles shot out of the glyph at high speeds.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

 _"Kill him."_

"I can't." Hinami said. "I can't kill him. I want him to stop hurting us. And even though I know that won't happen unless he... I can't..." She said, her kagune retreating to her back.

"Hinami..." Touka said. ' _Of course,_ ' She thought. ' _How could I think she could do that? She's just a child..._ ' She looked towards Mado.

"Guess she thinks you deserve a second chance or something." She muttered.

That's when Mado started giggling. Touka raised a brow. His giggling turned to laughter. Laughter to hysterical laughter.

"Well, if you can't kill me," He said in between hysterics. "I'll just finish my job!" He said, grabbing the rose petal Quinque before 4 crystals punctured him. Two in the arm grabbing the Quinque, causing it to fall from his hands. One on either side of the sternum. He softly hit the pillar with his back. Sliding back down from the height he had gotten to as Touka's kagune retreated. He fell onto his chest.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Ruby dodged what icicles she could and used her tentacles to deflect the rest. She looked back at Weiss and saw her jump at her using a black glyph.

"Oh come on!" Ruby said, getting tired, and also a little... peckish. Weiss slashed at her as Ruby ducked under said slash and grabbed her ankle and tossed her back. "Just go!"

"Not happening!" Weiss said, jabbing her sword into the ground. Ruby growled and charged her hoping to get to her before the damn glyph appeared. She was about a fourth of the original distance away from her, she realized that she walked right into a trap. She figured this out just as she saw the glyph form under her and the glyph already above her. Both were yellow.

The release of massive amounts electricity stopped her in her tracks as Ruby fell to her knees and arched her back, screaming in pain in reaction to the electricity. Weiss didn't let up though, she was going to continue to electrocute her until she stopped fight.

Ruby fell to her hands and knees and kept screaming as the Kagune twitched wildly. ' _I can't last through this! My aura's dropping down fast, I can feel it!_ ' Ruby thought. Then she had an idea.

Her kagune started slamming against the glyphs. Up, **_SLAM_** , Down, _**SLAM**_ , Up, _**SLAM**_ , Down, _**SLAM**_. This kept going for about ten seconds before...

Up, **_SLAM_** , Down, _**SLAM**_ , Up, _Shatter_ , Down, _Shatter_.

Ruby had broken the glyphs.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Mado was coughing up blood, crawling for his Quinque using his one gloved hand.

"I'm not done..." More blood came from his mouth and leaked from his chest. "Yet..." He continued. "I have to-" Blood shot out of his mouth as he coughed. "... get revenge. One-Eye... until I bury him with this hand..." He coughed again as his voice went softer as Touka glared at his gloved hands. She hadn't noticed it before but... he wouldn't even fucking TOUCH them!? Bastard! "I... I can't... die..." He fell limp in the waterway which sent the blood away.

"Bastard... doesn't even want to touch us!" Touka said, pulling the glove off as anger clouded her mind. "How's that feel you basta-" Touka started before seeing the ring on his finger. A signification that he was married. How..? I... I shouldn't... have killed... oh god... he was loved... how could I have..? And the other guy... with the glasses... I don't even know their names... fuck... fuck! He was awful but... fuck... even horrible people loves someone... He thought he was good... but... good and evil are all relative, aren't they? ... The majority believes X and so X it's true... FUCK!

Touka shook the thoughts out of her head. She couldn't think about this now. She had to go, before any other doves arrived. She turned to Hinami.

"Hinami, we need to go."

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Weiss's eyes widened before narrowing in rage. This ghoul had broken through her glyphs, something she never thought possible, something no one had done before. Rage seemed to cloud her mind, not noticing the glyph 5 feet ahead of her and to the side as the ghoul charged again.

Neither did she notice the large arm holding a sword coming out of the glyph. Neither did the ghoul, until it swung a slash out at her. The ghoul didn't think, they just acted.

The ghoul jumped over it, twisting her body as she did so and as the two locked eyes with each other, time seemed to slow to Weiss as her mind's eye flickered an image of one Ruby Rose doing the exact same flip and she know when her mouth moved, but she did know when she spoke.

"Ruby..?"

Ruby's eyes widened and she stumbled the landing in shock. ' _Damn it! I got to finish this before she starts asking questions. Sorry Weissy..._ ' Ruby's kagune shot towards Weiss violently, not leaving any time for attack on Weiss' part. She bashed her over to Amon. "Get outta here!" Ruby yelled. Weiss and Amon were tired at this point and couldn't give a rebuttal. They looked up at where the ghoul was.

She was gone.

Ruby was off in the park, devouring the meat inside of a brown package given to her by Touka, who stood next to her with Hinami.

"I told you to eat before." Touka admonished Ruby, who wasn't paying attention. "You know what you said. "I'll be fine" you said. "I have time" you said. You nearly went feral out there. You were able to reign yourself in this time, but next time? What were you thinking!?" Touka asked, before Ruby was starting to hyperventilate.

"She knows Touka, she knows... she knows she knows she knows she knows she knows she knows-" Ruby was muttering before Touka snapped her out of it with a slap.

"Calm down. Who knows what?" Asked Touka.

"W-Weiss... She knows I'm a ghoul. She's on internship at the CCG. Oh god." Ruby said, her head in her hands. Touka was silent for a bit.

"From what little I know of her," Touka finally spoke up. "She seems like she would go to you first, before going to the CCG. So, if she tells you that she is..." Touka ended off there. But she didn't need to.

They both knew what had to happen should that come to pass.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

The next morning.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

Ruby woke up with an angry pout on her face. As her team slept in the morning, Yang had brought it upon herself to wake everyone up...

By blasting heavy metal music.

"Argh!" Went Weiss who sat up and covered her ears quickly.

"F*CK!" Yelled Blake who covered her ears with her blankets.

"Ah!" Yelled Ruby as she fell from her bunk onto the floor. "Yang..?" Ruby asked, her voice muffled from the floor. "Why?" She finished, her voice conveying false hurtness.

"We're going to celebrate!" Yang said, ignoring everyone's current amount of hatred for her. "It's the last day of summer break! And with just two months until the vytal festival, we won't have time with all the training Ice Queen will force us to do!" Yang said said, gaining a humph of annoyance from Weiss.

"Where could we go? A last minute place to celebrate would be almost impossible." Weiss grumbled, wanting to go back to bed as she pulled sheets over her. Yang, being the person she is, pulled all of the sheets off of Weiss, much to her chagrin as Weiss began lowly whining.

"Well, since it's also Ruby's last day at work, I talked to them and they'll let us celebrate." Yang said with a smile. Ruby sighed and started getting dressed from pajamas to her work clothes. Blake did the same and eventually, Weiss got ready too.

Yang walked out ranting about how fun this will be and how much they'll love it.

Oh, how wrong she was.

 ** _~~Line~~_**

A man with orange hair and a large frame with three people wearing gas masks behind him were running along the rooftops.

"Rize..." Muttered the man, his hair blown back with the wind. "I hope I'm not to late!"

 **

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**

 _ **Ooh! What fun the next chapters will be!? (For me to write at least) I'm getting excited I can hardly contain myself! Well, see you next time!**_


	18. Chapter 17: Eyes Wide Shut

"To Beacon!" Yang said, standing up and raising her coffee into the sky as a grin occupied her face.

"To Beacon!" Ruby mimicked, a smile of innocence on her face as she raised her own drink into the sky. Just like so many times on the way to Anteiku today, her eyes flickered to Weiss. Weiss gave a small laugh stood up and raise her drink in the sky. For once, she was able to wear her cloak over her uniform. She got off from work in about 15 minutes.

"To Beacon." Weiss said, her small smile reflecting the general feeling of joy in the room. The three looked over to Blake who was talking to Nishiki. They both had smiles on their face. Yang saw this and grinned.

"Hey, love birds!" She called out getting their attention. The two looked at Yang. Nishiki looked disinterested in the blonde huntress and tsked off the tease. Despite that, his face had the slightest tinge of pink. Blake glared at her blonde partner in anger of interrupting their conversation. Nishiki waved his hand in the air, not having a drink to raise.

"Yeah yeah, To Beacon." He said, nonchalantly as a smirk adorned his face. Everyone looked to Blake as she stood up, a small smirk joining her face.

"To us." She said, breaking the pattern. "For I believe we did not need Beacon to bring us together, for fate would find a way. We are friends, forever eternal. Nothing will break us. No wall will stop us, no obstacle, separate for long. We will find a way back to each other, even through death. Should we die, let our tales be told in the books of history!" She said raising her drink to the sky.

The rest were quiet for a moment, they're drinks lowering, before they, all at the same time, smiled and raised their drinks in the sky again, the only exception being Nishiki and Touka who raised their hands to the the sky, and they all collectively said, as one united voice...

"To Us!"

Nishiki leaned over to Blake. "That was from Ninja's Of Love Volume II." He said with a sly grin.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

A large man in a white suit and black dress shirt watched as four people headed towards the small coffee shop known as "Anteiku." One had orange hair and the other three's faces were covered with gas masks.

The man in the suit had his pale blond hair slicked back, his large nose separating his eyes, the pupils so tiny, it was like a black dot in a sea of white sclera.

Two figures emerged from the darkness behind him. One was wearing a large hoodie with fur on the inside of the actual hood and short sleeves with a T-shirt under that. His hood was down, revealing his blue hair that obscured his eyes.

The other wore blue jeans, ripped at the knees, a blood red hoodie, with a t-shirt depicting Vale aflame. His eyes were a dim green with flickers of orange, like the emerald forest aflame, his hair a dim orange, like dying embers.

The man in the suit turned to the men. "Feu." He said coldly.

"Jason!" Said Feu Braise, his voice jovial, as if meeting an old friend. "How're ya, you big ugly bastard?!" He said, a great big grin on his face. Jason growled and turned to the other figure.

"Remind me," Jason started lowly. "Why can't I kill wisecracking piece of trash?" He said, a scowl on his face.

"I love you too." Feu calmly added, his ever present smirk still there.

"Both of you are annoying, now shut up!" The blue haired boy said. The two did so immediately. As they looked down onto the cafe. "If they don't have her out in ten minutes, we're going in."

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

The three who worked at the cafe turned to the door when it opened as they saw three people with gas masks on walk in behind a man with orange hair.

"Can I help you?" Touka asked. The man walked in and saw the three humans and scowled a bit.

"Yeah. I'm looking for a friend that got out of touch. She went here a lot, most likely." He said.

"Her name is a _**Rize Kameshiro**_." He said. The room froze as all went silent at that name. Ruby walked up to him.

"Y-You didn't hear?" She asked. The man with orange hair, who raised a brow at her.

"Hear about what?" He asked, a frown on his face.

"She... she-" Touka started before Ruby interrupted.

"Is gone. Left for somewhere." Ruby lied. "Sorry." She said, sincerely. The orange haired thuggish looking person let out a small, sad laugh.

"Yeah, sounds like her. Leaves before anyone has a chance to catch up..." He said sadly. "She always did that. Hopping across the world, waiting to be found." He said, a quiet smile on his face.

"That she was..." Ruby said with a small smile like his. "That she was."

"I never got to tell her either." He said.

"Tell her what." Touka asked.

"That she's in danger."

That's when things started going down hill.

A man in a white suit walked in a couple people behind them. I would say everything about the two or three people behind him screamed "forgettable" but that would mean that something about them screamed anything. If anything they murmured something incomprehensible.

He walked over to the orange haired teen, who looked at him, not noticing Weiss's widened eye as she wished she had brought her weapon.

"B-Boss!? Wh-what're you doing here?" He asked before the man grabbed him and threw him through a table.

"Hey!" Ruby yelped running over to the man.

"You we're taking to long." He said, his hand in front of him as his thumb went over his index finger as he used it to pop his knuckle.

 _Crack._

"And you were speaking to someone who knows where that bitch Rize is." He said, gesturing to Ruby. "Her scent's still on her." He said as her eyes widened. He turned to his posse. "Grab her." He said, and so the posse advanced. Touka stood in front of her.

"Not on my watch." She said as Nishiki stood beside her.

"Could've been better."

"Fuck off, ya little orange shit." Touka muttered, Nishiki's only response being a sly grin. Boss gave a smile as he stepped forward. That's when all hell broke loose.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

 _ **Time Skip**_

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Touka crumpled to her knees under the man in the white suit's punch. The cafe was in shambles. Tables over turned, blood was on the walls, chairs were broken. Yang was currently under a broken table, trying to get up. She was watching the the man with the white suit walked over to Ruby who had was next to Weiss. Both were going to have bruises the next day.

If they lived that long.

It had been close but the ghouls had a better chance then the huntsman and huntresses in training because Aura could only do so much whereas, without a certain chemical, ghouls could hold out much longer as they're invulnerability to most metals didn't require anything, they're healing required food, though if you're hungry enough the healing is like a normal human, you don't mind any pain. The man picked up Ruby by the neck away from Weiss, and scowled at the red reaper ghoul.

"A ghoul? Fraternizing with a dove?!" He said in anger. "Guess I'll just have to punish you." He said with barely contained joy. Ruby, despite how badly her face hurt, smirked.

"How about... dinner... first?" She choked out. The man scowl turned to a grin as his grip went from her neck to her head and started slamming it against the counter top. Every hit made Yang's aura flare a little bit. ' _Come on..._ ' Yang thought, her muscles feeling like they were aflame as she struggled to move. By now Ruby had blood flowing from her nose and mouth, the crimson liquid staining her work uniform and the mans suit.

"Ahh, still fighting aren't we?" The man said, his other hand grabbing onto her hand and squeezing as hard as he could. Ruby started screaming as her eyes bulged out. Soon cracking could be heard as the bones in her hand broke, nothing her Ghoul healing and Aura couldn't fix, given time. This all happened as the man laughed hysterically. He pulled his hand away from her hand as tears went down her face, mingling with the blood cells as they did. His hand turned into a fist as he reeled it back. Yang was almost up.

The man's hand shot forward.

His fist came out the other side of the red reaper.

Yang's red eyes and fiery hair disappeared as her mind went blank. She fell back to her knees. "No..." She whispered as she saw the man wearing Ruby like a watch. The hands of Ruby that had been grasping the man's arms, a vain attempt to pull the hand off her neck, fell limp to her sides.

He pulled his hand out of her stomach and flicked off some blood. His hand was still covered though.

"Let's get outta here." The man said before walking out. The posse following him and the limp form of Ruby, her blood trail like a red carpet, rolled out for them.

Blake, pulling her body out from under some tables and putting her arm back in its socket, went towards Weiss. The Faunus knelt down next to the heiress. The girl in white, now with stained red with Ruby's blood, lay on the floor unconscious. Her jaw was broken, her ribs likely were too with the relentless attack she got. She took a hold of Weiss's hand and squeezed it before collapsing to her side in exhaustion.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Ruby woke up slowly. The first thing she noticed was that the hole in her stomach had healed up due to the very nature of a ghoul having Aura. Aura speeds up and amplifies the natural healing factor of its user and already had a phenomenal healing faster. She just wasn't strong enough. Then she noticed that she was shackled to the chair she woke up in. This wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for the Aura dampener on her neck and the shackles being made of the one damn metal that ghouls can't break.

Aura dampeners were made long before the Great War. It was mainly to help contain prisoners who had Aura. The specific metal shackles stopped her from just pulling it off and escaping. The aura dampener stopped her from pulsing her aura to break the shackles. Who ever put her in this knew what they were doing, which brings up a few questions.

' _Where am I?_ ' Being the first Ruby thought of. Second being ' _Why does he want Rize?_ ' She didn't have time for a third as a figure walked in. It was the man in the white suit. Except his white jacket was gone, leaving a black dress shirt. He walked in silence, the only noise between them being the sound of his foot steps as he walked. He stopped in front of her. This is when Ruby saw the wheeled metal table with various tools on it.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Ruby decided to ask, as it was the foremost question on her mind.

"Oh..." The man said. "We're gonna have a nice, _**LONG**_ chat." He continued picking up one of the tools, a syringe with liquid inside. "But we'll need this to start and continue, but no place to administer it, due to the skin of a ghoul." He said, looking at Ruby as he came closer. "Except one. And it's a goodie!" He exclaimed before pushing her head back and holding it there. He brought the string to her eye. "Open wide!" He screamed out in what sounded to ecstasy as the needle slid around the eyeball as Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs in pain of a needle scraping against the bone that surrounds her eye.

Little did she know, this was just beginning.


	19. Chapter 18: Eye Scream, You Scream

Weiss awoke to the color white. She thought this was weird, as the last thing she remembered was celebrating at Anteiku and then-

The memories came flooding back to her as she remembered the attack and the man in the suit. He was an S class ghoul named Jason. What did Ruby do to get his eye on her? Or rather...

What did Rize Kaneshiro do to get his eye on her? How does Ruby still smell like...

Weiss's eyes widened. She quickly got up and went ripped the IV's out. She had work to do.

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

Meanwhile

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

Ruby scowled as the man formerly in the white suit entered once more. He now wore a hockey mask over, his face his pinprick black eyes boring her. Behind him walked Feu Braise, his very existence angering the young ghoul.

But then she saw what was different.

He seemed less confident... or perhaps less jovially insane. Maybe both. His once confident posture was replaced with a more reserved one with slouched shoulder's as if the man that was once obsessed with her was gone. In his hand was a camera connected to a stand, his grip like a vice as his eyes cast to the floor flickering between the ground against his feet to either of the two people in the room. He started setting up the camera about 6 feet away from her side.

"Whats that for?" Ruby asked, confusion and anger lacing her voice. Feu looked over to her and then back at the man formerly in white. Ruby looked as well and he seemed to be polishing some tools of some sort, she couldn't really get a good look. She looked back at Feu to see him looking at her. He looked into her eyes and could tell he was different. More laid back.

"I'm so sorry. For what I've done and..." Feu looked over at the man. "And for what Jason will do." Ruby looked back over at the man once in white. Jason. A fitting name, she supposed. Jason had a knife in his hand. He turned to Feu.

"Turn it on and leave Feu." Jason said. Feu scowled slightly.

"What are we even doing here?" Feu growled out. "We don't know if she even knows anything about Rize!"

"Feu, leave us! I've got a... guest... to entertain..." Jason said, smiling a bit as he looked at Ruby. Sighing, Feu turned it on and went to the door. He stopped at the door and looked back, locking eyes with Ruby. This lasted for only a single moment but to both of them it was like it lasted hours. Feu could see the anger, confusion, and fear on her pale face. Her eyes like shining silver platters, reflecting himself. In her eyes, he saw his self. His dreams he once cherished before they were crushed. His once naïveté to the world, not destroyed, just kicked out of him. His cravings were the only thing he couldn't see in her eyes.

And now she would go through the same thing that gave him cravings.

His cravings were what he called when he grew an unsafe obsession with a person as he followed them, gained their trust and attacked. He had a craving for Ruby, but cravings usually last about two to three days.

Hopefully, she gained something less... distractive.

And like that, it was over. Feu opened the door and left. Ruby looked to Jason. She could tell he was smiling from ear to ear from just from his eyes. She scowled a bit deeper, mimicking Weiss in hopes he'd be intimidated. Weiss had scowled a teacher into giving her an A on a test she got a B on for goodness sakes!

It didn't work.

Jason laughed a little.

"The chemical I gave you... it makes that porcelain skin of yours able to be cut by just about anything a blue to cut it." Jason said, walking behind her. She could feel the back of her chair disappear as it bent moved in order for Jason to see the back of her clothes. "But it keeps the regeneration. So we can _talk_ for a _long_ time." He said with a smile evident in his voice. She felt his hand grip the back of her clothing and rip out off, revealing her mid to higher back. She gasped as the cold air bit at her back. "But lets make sure it knows to keep doing that, okay? Now," The knife in his hand plunged into her bac, causing Ruby to grit her teeth as to not scream. "Start counting down from one thousand by seven." He said as he started moving the knife down, cutting through the skin on the right side of her spine, these cuts more shallow than the initial. Knowing that disobeying would likely make it worse, Ruby shakily drew in breath.

"O-One Thousand..." Ruby started, tears threatening to break out of her eyes.

"N-Nine H-Hundred And n-ninety s-sev-ven..."

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

Yang stood outside Team RWBY's dorm watching Blake leave for the library's terminals to research who it was that took Ruby.

She looked back at the door, wondering if she could do it. If she could she Ruby's empty bed, and know she may not be coming back. Their room without Ruby was like fireworks in black and white. It's creative and cool, sure, but it's missing the most important part.

The best part.

Yang sighed and hopped slightly from one door to another, readying herself for it. She opened the door and stepped in.

The first things she saw was Weiss in front of a cork board set up on the wall.

"Hello Yang." Weiss said, not moving at all from her position to look back and see who it was. Yang's eyes widened a slight bit.

"How the hell did you know it was me without turning and looking?" Yang said. Weiss started to speak but Yang continued. "Was it the foot steps? It was probably the footsteps. Blake's are probably lighter due to her being the resident ninja and Ruby's are probably faster, What with her being the shortest and need to to take more steps to cover the same distance as m-" Yang rambled before Weiss snapped her fingers, causing the blonde haired hunteress, in training, to stop her wild ramblings and look back to Weiss.

She was pointing at a mirror that allowed her to see the door of the room, and therefore, Yang.

"Oh." Yang said dumbly. She let out a nervous chuckle and looked to the cork board.

"I'm figuring out why Jason took Ruby." Weiss said still looking at the cork board. "The only thing I'm missing is why he wanted Rize."

"Jason?"

"The man in the suit who attacked us. He's an S class ghoul."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I believe that Rize was a ghoul and because they used Rize's organs for Ruby, the ghoul abilities somehow transferred over. Ruby came in contact with another Ghoul, likely Rabbit who is likely Touka, who trained and helped them learn the ropes of being a ghoul, so when Rabbit killed Mado, a crazy Ghoul Investigator and my (former) boss, Ruby was there to keep me and Amon (possibly my new boss(or partner?)) busy in order for her to kill Mado. Now Ruby is in the system known as Eyepatch. They don't know she's eyepatch though so maybe we can keep the attention off her somehow." Weiss said before muttering plans under her breath.

"How much have you slept?" Yang asked, her voice unusually tired. Not physically, emotionally tired. Weiss looked over.

"Not until I woke up in Beacon's infirmary." Weiss said. "After that, I came straight here."

"You need to sleep. You need rest. We all need rest."

"We need Ruby!" Weiss yelled. The two were in silence, Yang because she thought Weiss hated the red reaper and Weiss because she needed to group her thoughts. "We need Ruby." She said again. "It's too quiet here. It's like having a painting moved out of a room. You liked it there but now it's gone... and all you want is that painting back. It's like-"

"The world is suddenly in black and white." Yang finished for the heiress.

"Like a town disappeared from a map. It should be there, but it isn't. And that's all you can focus on." The two stayed silent after that for a bit. Eventually the silence broke from a sigh from Yang.

"We all miss her. But you need to rest. We all do." Yang said. Weiss nodded and sat onto her bed.

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

Ruby whimpered as Jason walked out from behind her, a foot long and six in wide section of skin from Ruby's back in his hand. "S-Seven hundred f-fourty e-e-eight..." He placed it onto the metal rolling desk in tray as he got out an empty glass jar and set that next to the skin. He grabbed Ruby's face and pushed it back, forcing her to glare at him while her face went to the sky.

"I ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?"

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

2 hours later, Midnight

 ** _~~~~Line~~~~_**

Yang woke to a knock at the door. She looked around, sighed, and got up and opened the door. Nobody was there, but on the floor in front of the door lay a cardboard box with a white note.

 _Dear Ms. Xiao-Long_

 _Just wanted to return_

 _something stolen from you._

Raising a brow, she unpacked the box. In it was a USB drive and a plastic bag concealing what was inside it. Yang reached into the box. ' _A jar?_ ' She thought as she held onto the thing inside. She brought it out and looked at it, only for her eyes to widen and drop it back onto the bag as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Weiss exited soon after came out and looked at the jar. She gasped and covered her mouth.

Floating inside the jar...

Were a pair of silver eyes.


	20. Chapter 19: Bugged out

_"I ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?"_

 _The sounds of Ruby's screaming filled the room as Jason plunged the knife next to her eye, expertly clipping the optic nerves before using the knife to pop the eye out into his hand._

"That's enough." Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, said. The video stopped, cutting off the screams of Ruby and laughter of Jason. He looked to the jar containing two silver eyes on his desk. He looked over to the other person in the room, Glynda Goodwitch, another Professor at the school and possibly his most trusted confidant at Beacon. Her face showed the same concern and shock he felt, though he didn't show it as easily...

But this gave him a run for his money...

He looked out the window, out over Vale.

"How do I tell Qrow? How do I tell Tai?!" Ozpin exclaimed. "She told us not to let her into Beacon, not until she'd have deemed her ready... but I... I was impatient! If I had only waited than none of this!.." Ozpin paused. "No... can't focus on the past. Important things to be done now..." He muttered, only to himself. He looked back at Glynda. "Summon Qrow... he'll want to know." Glynda nodded and Oz looked back out over Vale.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Rose... I couldn't protect her..." Oz muttered to his self.

 ** _~~~Line~~~_**

Darkness.

That's all Ruby saw.

No, that's not right.

It's more that she couldn't see any light or darkness.

No light. No darkness. Just...

Nothing.

But yet that doesn't seem right to her either. She couldn't describe what it was like to not see because there are no real words to describe it.

The weirdest thing about it though, was when her vision returned even though her eyes weren't healed yet. Ruby's "eyes" opened to see a cliff with a tombstone on it. The ground covered with white roses. In front of the tombstone sat a person on ground, draped in a white cloak.

"M-Mom?"

 ** _~~~Line~~~_**

Weiss stood in front Amon as he sat at a desk.

"Amon..." Weiss started, pausing to fully think out her sentence. "What now?" She asked. "I mean, I was an intern to Mado but now he's gone and-"

"Wait, I thought you were an understudy." Amon said.

"No, intern."

"Goddamnit Mado..." Amon grumbled. "Interns aren't allowed to go out into the field. They're supposed to deal with paperwork." He said louder.

Weiss was silent. She looked over to the couch. "Can I borrow a pillow real quick?" She asked, gesturing to the couch pillows.

"Sure."

"Thanks." Weiss said. She went over and grabbed a pillow off of the couch. She screamed as hard as she could into the pillow.

Overtime, the screaming turned into sobbing as she sat down onto the couch.

 ** _~~~Line~~~_**

"M-Mom?" Ruby said under her breath in shock. This was enough to gain the white cloaked person's attention, as they turned their head around to look at her.

Dad said she looked a lot like her mother but the appearance was uncanny. It was like looking in the mirror, they looked practically the same.

Complete with the gouged out eyes.

The figure tilted their head and smiled, completely ignoring the maggots and worms falling from their eyes and mouth. They opened their mouth and spoke in her voice.

"You're going to die here."

The ground under Ruby fell and she went along with staring up at the hole she fell from. Only to see it wasn't there.

Of course it wasn't.

She was always falling, wasn't she. Falling into situations. Falling into the robbery that sent her falling into Beacon. She fell into the whole train breach debacle, both literally and figuratively. She fell into almost dying with Yang if it weren't for her uncle.

All these thing she fell into, being forced to participate in. She had no real choice in the matter. It's either they do it alone or they do it together.

No...

Not they do it alone.

A pair of arms wrapped around Ruby's torso lovingly. This caused Ruby to realize she was naked in this white void.

"Blake does it alone. All of that could have gone unnoticed by you if she just weren't so obsessed."

Ruby didn't know where the voice came from but she knew it hadn't just arrived. It was always there, and never there at the same time. And she had to admit that she had a point.

"B-But... we wanted to join." Ruby said.

"You wanted to help. Because that's what you are a tiny. Little. Monkey helper."

"N-No..." Ruby said. She felt kisses planted onto the side of her neck.

"Yes. You are."

Ruby felt the person rest their chin on her shoulder. She looked to the offending shoulder to see her. Rize Kaneshiro. She opened her mouth.

"See you again soon."

And then.

Ruby awoke. Her eyes had healed, regenerated themselves using a ghoul's natural regenerative abilities. She could see! How... how long had it been?

She saw Feu Braise once again setting up that camera.

"How long has it been since he..." She asked, trailing off as she couldn't bring herself to say the rest.

"About a week." Feu said.

"B-But I usually heal faster!" Ruby yelled out in shock.

"Eyes are very complicated and very fragile. It had to take time to properly regenerate." He looked at her in the eyes. "They're different."

"Wh-What?"

"Your eyes are different."

"Are they a different color?"

"No," Feu said. "They're a different pattern."

"Oh."

Silence overtook the two as Feu continued setting up the camera.

"Why didn't he do more... sessions?" Ruby asked, suddenly hating the word session. Feu was silent.

"He wanted you to see it. You're 'half the audience', as he would say." Feu told her. The doors opened as Jason entered. Feu scowled at him before sighing and turning on the camera. He started walking towards the entrance.

Jason took most of Ruby's attention. He grasped what appeared to a dirty bronze wrench off the tray of tools and went over to Ruby. He grabbed her hand and wrapped his hand around her index finger.

"How about you tell the rest of audience who you are!" Jason said.

"Wh-What?" Ruby asked. That's when she found out what made this wrench special. Instead of the threaded inlay of most wrenches..,

There was a blade.

A blade which, right when Ruby said "what?", cut off the finger tip of her left index finger.

Ruby screamed out in both surprise and pain at the removal as Jason switched to the middle.

"Now, let's try that one more time! Tell the audience your name!" Jason said once more. Ruby stayed silent for a moment, trying to get her bearing.

"My n-name... is R-Ruby R-Rose... I'm f-fifteen, going on s-sixteen..." Ruby paused for a moment. "Sorry..." she muttered before continuing. "I-I'm... a ghoul..."

"Good." Jason said. Ruby screamed again at the removal of the fingertip of her middle finger.

 ** _~~~Line~~~_**

Qrow walked into Ozpin's office. He was curious why he brought him out of reconnaissance so soon, and almost wasn't going to but when Oz said it was about his niece Ruby, he was sure to come as soon as humanly possible, faster even. He looked at Ozpin looking over Vale.

After working with Oz since before Ruby was born, a total of about 25 years, he liked to believe he could tell what the man was thinking, with a low to medium chance of error.

But even then, Qrow could tell Oz was angry, at who could be anyone's guess. Qrow cleared his throat, alerting Ozpin to his presence. Oz turned around and smiled a somber smile. A smile used when remembering something about a loved one that's gone. A smile Qrow used when thinking of Summer Rose, Ruby's mother.

"Oz," Qrow started with a slight edge. "What's happened with Ruby?" He asked. Oz looked Qrow straight in the eyes. Oz closed his took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Not a good sign with Oz.

"One week from today, Miss Rose was attacked along with her team." Oz said as Qrow's eyes widened. "They didn't win." Suddenly Qrow was much closer, slamming his hands on the headmaster's desk.

"Is she alive!?" Qrow demanded, his voice wrapped with anger.

"We believe so." Oz said.

"What do you mean?"

"They... took her." Qrow's eyes widened at that. "A day after, Yang found a package containing two items. A USB drive and... a jar." Qrow's eyebrows raised slightly in confusion. "A jar containing a pair of silver eyes." Qrow's eyes widened in shock at that. He fell into the chair behind him.

"N-No..." Qrow mumbled. "No no no." Qrow continued. "Wh-What was in the USB?" He asked.

"A video," Ozpin said, his voice slight shakey. "A video of them... torturing," Ozpin swallowed after that out of shame. "Miss Rose and... taking her..." The head master trailed off, but he didn't need to finish for Qrow to understand.

 ** _~~~Line~~~_**

Ruby was crying as she spoke. Spoke the only thing Jason allowed her to speak.

"S-Six H-Hund-dred Ei-Eighty F-Five..."

Counting down from one thousand by seven.

Jason had just finished taking her fingers and toes, knuckle by knuckle. He was smiling as he cracked his knuckle with his thumb.

"Well, I think that was fun, didn't you?" Jason asked. A growl was the only response he got from Ruby. He growled back and grabbed her by the hair. "That's not very nice to do Miss Rose!" He said, using his hand grasping her hair to move her to the side as he grabbed a small jar. He opened it with one hand and pulled out the item inside, dropping the glass jar as it shattered. He put the item in front of her eyes to let her see.

She saw a centipede.

He moved it out of her sight and she could hear it move near her ear.

"No!" Ruby yelled out.

Jason didn't care as he guided the centipede into her ear.

It wasn't painful, per say. It was more consistently disturbing. She could feel it burrow down her ear as she screamed. She couldn't even hear anything out of that ear anymore as the centipede blocked it from getting in.


	21. Chapter 20: Darwin

Yang was in the gym. It was about two in the morning. She was making use of a punching bag. Her mind wasn't in the training.

She was thinking of Ruby.

How could she have been so... weak!?

She's a huntress yet she couldn't save her own sister!

It's her fault she's gone! If she had been stronger, if she had been better, if she could've just gotten up in time then Ruby would still be here and she wouldn't be wasting her time here pounding against a fucking punch bag as if it'd help! But it can't help! It won't help because she can't help like THE **FUCKING USELESS FAILURE SHE IS!**

 _ **SLAM!**_

The punching bag broke, flying off the chain while leaking sand. Yang sighed as she unwrapped her hands.

Now she had this mess to clean up.

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Ruby was once more on the cliff top covered with white roses.

"Her and her fucking ideology!" Qrow's voice rang out behind her. Ruby turned around and found herself home in patch.

"Qrow, shush, Ruby's sleeping." Taiyang, Ruby's father, said as he tried to calm the drunk Qrow down.

"The goddamn weak die and the strong survive... Ha! What kind of-" Qrow started, but his voice faded as those words repeated.

The weak die.

The strong survive.

The weak die.

The strong survive.

The weak die. The strong survive.

The weak **DIE**.The strong **SURVIVE**.

She was back at the cliff, looking at the grave.

Summer Rose

 _Thus kindly I scatter._

What about her then? She was strong! Wasn't she!?

"Was she?"

There it was. That voice again. It wasn't there before, yet it was. It never left. It never came.

"If she were strong,"

Stop it.

"You'd still be able to see her."

No...

"You'd still hear her voice,"

Please stop...

"Still eat her cookies,"

Shut up shUT UP SHUT UP!

The voice was gone, quiet for what felt like the first time.

"Wouldn't familial bonds keep her alive?"

"Wouldn't the want to see her little girl grow up be stronger than anything?"

"Tell me... what would you do to see her again?"

...anything...

"If someone died because she lived?"

"Well?"

...then they die...

"If a town died because she wasn't there to protect it?"

I wouldn't care.

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Ozpin looked at the package on his desk. Another box had been place at Team RWBY's door and Yang had given it to them, not wanting to go through that hurt again. Sighing, he opened the package lightly. He looked inside, and released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. There was only a USB drive in the box. He picked it up.

"No time like the present." He muttered.

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

 _"No!" Ruby yelled out as Jason moved the centipede to her ear. Her screams of protest didn't bother Jason who just kept bringing the bug closer before it crawled into her ear._

Ozpin pauses the video there. There wasn't anything he could do against the S class ghoul, despite his wishes. There wasn't anything that could point them to their location so what was the point? What was the point in this... needless pain, needless suffering!? He picked up his scroll and called up Qrow.

"Another video came in."

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Ruby was in her home standing by her mother. They were making cookies. Suddenly, her scroll rang.

"I'll be right back, little gem." She said before picking up and walking away a bit.

"Oz? What do you want?... Why can't Qrow do it? ... Fine, when? ... Tomorrow?! But..." Ruby's mother sighed. "Alright. Goodbye Ozpin." Summer said, an amount of anger in her voice. She hung up and turned around to see Ruby. "It'll be fine, little gem. I'll be fi-" Summer started before Ruby hugged her tears in her eyes. Summer laughed a bit under her breath. Ruby looked up,

Summer was disintegrating into dust. "It's okay." She said. "I'll be fine."

And then, she was gone, Ruby's arms locked around the waist of no one.

"No..." Ruby mumbled before collapsing to her knees bringing fistfuls of dust to her chest as she wailed out for her mother.

"If she was strong..."

The voice, the voice was here! To mock her for her failings assuredly. Her failing to keep her here, to make her stay stay stay stay STAY STAY STAY STAY **STAY STAY STAY STAY!**

"What'll happen to Yang?"

Wh-What?

"Yang's not as strong as her. If she was strong and still died, what chance does Yang have?"

"Someone has to protect her. And with the... state... you're now in, as a ghoul..."

"You could protect her."

Protect her. From those who would wish to hurt her. You could protect anyone. You'd just need to get stronger. If I trained, I could help all of my loved ones. I could protect them.

Protect them from themselves.

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Weiss stood in the new office of Koutaru Amon sorting through papers, much more preferable than Mado's job for her, when she came across a file. This file was interesting as it was about an organization minorly talked about in Jason's file.

An organization called Aogiri tree.

She opened it and saw that they had a surprisingly amount of information. Known members, with the ones to look out for underlined, telling the reader to check their files if need be. There was also a known location/hideout in Vale. She pulled out her scroll and took a photo of the page. She smiled at the screen.

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Ruby woke with a start, her sudden thrashing causing her body's new passenger to wriggle slightly in her ear, causing the red reaper to wince quietly.

Looking around she saw no one but still heard the sound of brush thistles moving against something. It was only then that Ruby felt a large brush scraping off the blood from her foot. She looked down and saw Feu Braise, cleaning her uncovered feet.

"When..." Ruby started, her breath ragged and heavy. "When does he come back?" She asked. Feu looked up into her eyes.

"Two hours." He said.

"How long alone?" She asked. He arched a brow at her and stopped scrubbing her foot to look up at her face. He saw tears starting to flow down her face. She started tugging back and forth on the shackles binding her, making a small amount of noise as the chair and the Aura dampener jostled slightly. Feu quickly tries to hold her steady. "No!" She screamed as he continued.

"If you continue, he'll come here faster and neither one of us wants that!" He exclaimed.

It was a lie, sure, Jason didn't care if the girl jostled or screamed. Feu did though. He doesn't like the sound of screaming as he does his job. Nor does he like any other Simon And Garfunkel Screamo cover bands but that's besides the point, her screaming and crying doesn't help him at all.

Anyway, the lie had worked as she had stopped screaming. That's something, at least,

 ** _~~~~~Line~~~~~_**

Weiss entered the dorm calmly. She entered and closed the door behind her. She pulled out some vanilla folders from under her jacket and put them on the desk. Their words read coldly as she grasped the situation she caused.

" _Jason: Ghoul_ "

" _Aogiri Tree_ "

" _Eyepatch: Ghoul_ "

" _Rabbit: Ghoul_ "

She opened up the folder labeled Aogiri Tree and got to work. She didn't have time to think of the consequences.

She had a leader to save.


	22. Chapter 21: The Calm

Blake was in the library, reading a book she's read before. An old fairytale he parents used to read. It used to always calm her when she was scared, or nervous.

Emphasis on "used to" seeing as it's not working.

Despite what she did to try and take her mind off it, her thoughts went back to her leader. People were starting to ask questions. Most by Team (J)NPR. Every time, they asked questions, Jaune told them to drop it and that it was fine.

God, why did he have to see the jar of her...

What kind of sick fuck were they even dealing with?

Nishiki looked over from across the table they sat at.

"You okay?" He asked, breaking the silence. Blake looked up at him, looked back down to the book and closed it. She then shook her head "no". Nishiki nodded in understanding. "Want to talk about it?" Nishiki asked. Once again, she shook her head. "Want a hug?" Blake blinked, not expecting that. She looked back up at the man who asked. It was hard to believe it. This young man in front of her who despite his usual vulgarity, had asked her if she wanted a hug. The same person who killed humans and Faunus to survive. She nodded her head and smiled once Nishiki walked around the table to next to her and hugged her. It was nice. The warmth from him was nurturing, kind. Her eyes closed as she melted into the hug and soon she found herself in a calm, deep sleep.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Yang stood in the gym once more, the gleam of sweat glistening on her skin. She picked up the white towel from the bench and patted her face with it. She looked down towards the floor as thoughts came to her mind.

How could she have let them take Ruby?

How could she have let them hurt Ruby?

How could have let them take Ruby's fucking eyes!?

How could she have let them?!

How could she have let them?!

How could she!?

 **How could she!?**

 ** _HOW COULD SHE!?_**

Yang slammed her fist through the bench. She sighed before bringing her hand back out of the hole and left the gym for her dorm.

It was times like these she used to love, time to think, alone. Now? Well, now the trepidation when someone left the room was almost unbearable. Almost. But god, the silence of the hallway she was walking down was damn near too much for her. She'd put on music but her scroll died half an hour ago. And so she arrived at her dorm room in silence.

She entered to see Weiss once more at the cork board. Weiss swung around with a wide smile. "I think I know where they took Ruby."

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Amon stood in front of Mado's Quinque storage room. R-Right. It's his now. He almost forgot. He steeled himself and opened the door. It opened to a wide array of briefcases, each with a different identifying code. Some had tags on them. Others just had a serial number. He finally came across the one he was looking for. It was brief case with a tag on it that said, _for Amon_. He smiled as tears threatened to stream down his face. His hand hesitantly reached out and grasped the handle of the briefcase and he fell to his knees as tear flowed down his face.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Blake's eyes fluttered open once more. It was the middle of the night if the darkness out the window was anything to go by. They were still in the library. Seems the librarian missed them. She looked over to Nishiki and saw that he had a large jacket next to him and that He himself was asleep as well. She then had an idea her sleep drunk mind immediately acted upon. She lazily grabbed his jacket and brought it over her and positioned herself on his lap and cuddled closer to him so that he got the warmth too. And she smiled into the warmth of his chest and ...

Like that, she was asleep.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Jaune Arc was awake. It was 12:59 AM... and he was still. Awake. He couldn't sleep as he stared up into the ceiling. His thoughts drifted around.

 _Is anyone else in Beacon awake?_

 _How can everyone be asleep but me?_

 _What's different about me?_

 _What's wrong with me?_

 _What's wrong with me?_

 _Where the hell is Ruby?_

She was one of his best friends and his first at Beacon, of course he'd think about her.

 _What happened to Ruby?_

 _Is she alive?_

Tears started streaming down his face.

 _Fuck, she's gonna die isn't?_

 _Oh goodness, I'm gonna lose my best friend._

 _I don't want to lose her..._

He pulled the blanket close set to himself.

 _I don't think I can't stand to lose her..._

He continued weeping, even after his partner, Pyrrha hugged him from behind to try and comfort him. Eventually, they both fell asleep in his bed.

 ** _~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Ruby had no idea what time it was but there was one thing she thought, despite how crazy may have sounded, one thing she knew...

It was that They were watching.

They were always watching weren't They?

Ever since she was born and people saw her special silver eyes, They were watching. Always watching, as she slept, as she studied, as she bathed...

Goodness, They must be bored.

And so, she did the only thing she could do to entertain them.

She sang.

There were no words this song, barely a melody as she tried to find a means of escape. Anything really as she tried he best to find a way out, that's when she thought of it. The only way to escape. She pulled and pulled and pulled on her left wrist until...

 _ **Crack!**_

Her thumb broke and folded into her hand, just barely able to fit through the small entrance of the shackle. She then used the remaining four fingers to get the Aura dampener off, allowing her finally use her aura. She suppressed it manually however and brought her broken hand back through the shackle. Once it was in, she used her Aura to heal the thumb back up.

Then she stopped singing.

"Now, you may be wondering what the hell is going on." She said to Them. The ones watching her, Them. "Well, just wait and find out then..." she said with a smile.


	23. Chapter 22: The Casting Call

Nishiki walked down the halls, of Beacon, a sleeping Blake in his arms, curling up into to him as he walked to her dorm. He lightly smiled down to her as she lightly drooled on his chest. Once he arrived at her room, he looked at the door and...

Oh.

He needed her scroll... to open it... and he couldn't touch it... due to the Blake in his hands.

Sighing, he starts lightly kicking the door, hoping the soft tapping could make anyone, after a bit, right when he's about to quit, the door opens.

"What?" Yang says to Nishiki, tired eyes on her face, she raised a brow at the sleeping teammate of her. She sighs and opens the door for him to walk in. He walks in and sets her on bottom bunk. "That's mine..." Yang mumbled to herself. Nishiki didn't hear it however. He turned and went to the door but stopped when something caught his eye.

A cork board that was trying to be hidden. He went over and pulled it out.

"Yang," He said. "What is this?" He gazed upon the cork board. ason, Ruby, Rize, Aogiri Tree, all laid out plain, connected by blood red yarn. He turned around to Yang.

"We're going to get Ruby." Yang said, a smile Nishiki could only describe as a broken one on her face. Nishiki turned back to the board, as if hoping it'd change, that Yang would laugh at what he hoped would be a broken attempt to cope with humor. That didn't happen though, and turned back to Yang.

"You can't." He said. Yang gave a scowl at that, asking, "And why the hell not?" While growling it out. "Because these people are dangerous. They almost killed Blake, along with you two!" He exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down for the sleeping Belladonna.

"I have to get Ruby. Nothing would stop me." Yang growled out. Nishiki sighed with exasperation as she spoke.

"You're still not strong enough. You will die if you go to get her. It doesn't matter if you're with Weiss and Blake! To you, fighting is a choice, to them, it's survival! If they don't, they die! The weak die and the strong survive!" He said, slowly getting louder as he went on. He was about to say another sentence, but Yang's forearm slammed against his throat, pushing him up against the wall.

"I don't care! I will find her!" Yang screamed. "Even if I have to face hundreds of them, I will be left standing and I will save her!" She finished, still pushing on his neck for a bit before pushing off, causing Nishiki to fall to the ground on his knees, rubbing his neck as his lung gasped in air.

"What's going on?" A tired Blake said, her voice croaking. Nishiki looks over and attempts to say something only to cough hard. Blake's eyes widen as she sees a red eyed Yang standing over Nishiki. "What the hell's going on here!?" Blake asked, her voice void of any sleepishness.

"We found Ruby, Blake." Yang tells her. "But he doesn't think we should." She scowled down at him, her rage controlling her.

"You can't! They will kill you! It wouldn't be a fight, it'll be a slaughter!" Nishiki exclaimed.

"We have to!" Yang yelled back.

"No, you don't!" Nishiki said, wanting to not fight.

"No one else will!" Yang screamed.

"Anteiku is!" He yelled back, before realizing what he said. He saw the suspicious looks from Yang and Blake and sighed. "Anteiku has a plan to save her." He said once more.

"Why would a coffee shop have plans to save someone from a Ghoul group?" Yang asked, her red eyes slowly fading to lilac.

"It's not just a coffee shop," Nishiki said. "It's a Ghoul sanctuary. Everyone who works there is a Ghoul. We make sure that Vale doesn't get much CCG activity." He stated, looking for reactions. Yang was curious while Blake was shocked. He wondered where the other one was, Ice was her name, he believed.

"But, how do they do that?" Blake asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, first by making the number of Ghouls hunting as low as possible. That means providing food in other ways. Suicide victims being one major part." Nishiki confessed. There was silence for a beat before Yang spoke.

"You helped Ruby get to Anteiku, right?" Yang asked, slightly confused. Nishiki laughed at this.

"If anything, Ruby helped me get to it," He said, before quickly amending it. "Well, as much help as almost killing is."

"Wait Ruby almost killed you?!" Both Yang and Blake exclaimed before Blake repeated them more quietly.

"What do you think happened when you found me covered in blood? I tripped?" Nishiki asked sarcastically. He looked at Blake's face with a sly grin that quickly fell at the concern shown on her face. "Sorry."

"No, why would she do that?" Yang asked, not wanting to believe her sister could kill.

"To be fair," Nishiki defended. "I was trying kill and eat her sister at the time..." He confessed, quietly.

"You tried to eat me?!" Yang growled out, her eyes red once more.

"For three months... three months... I'm sorry for what happened. If it weren't for Blake being important to me and Ruby at Anteiku, I would probably still want to..." He confessed. He felt his pocket buzz. Pulling out his scroll, he quickly checked it's screen. "Shit."

"What?" Asked Blake, still slightly shaken. Nishiki looked up from the scroll.

"We just found out that the CCG is pulling a raid on Aogiri Tree in a few hours."

 ** _~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Three hours later. 12:00

 ** _~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~_**

Amon stood outside of the base, tightly gripping the metal briefcase that was his Quinque. It was time.

He would avenge Mado.

Even if it kills him.

 ** _~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~_**

Ruby looked up as she heard the door open. Walking towards her was the one and only Jason.

"Well, it's been fun," He said, a toothy grin filled with murderous intent. "But, with the CCG outside, we can't keep you here." He stated. "So, I'm just gonna kill you and eat you!" He cackled. Ruby started laughing.

"Oh Jason, always so big headed, aren't you? All bark, no bite..." She giggles at her attempts. "You're just, tiny. I've accepted that now. Everyone is. The worlds a stage, and I'm a main character!" She laughed as she spoke. "You're just a tiny side character! Barely a proper antagonist! No, this story we're in... has some really shitty Antagonists! So," She used her Aura to smash through the bindings and jump at him wrapping her fingers around his throat before bringing her head close to his and biting his ear off and eating it. Jason pushed her off quickly after, a hand coming to what was left of his ear.

"I'm taking the role!"


End file.
